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FRANCE 



ITS 



HISTORY AND REVOLUTIONS. 



\Right of translation is reserved?^ 



FRANCE 



ITS 



HISTORY and REVOLUTIONS 

BY 

W. CHAMBERS. 




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K 



I 



W-& R.CHAMBERS. 
EDINBURGH AND LONDON, 

1871. 



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3C 3 
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PREFATORY NOTE. 



Frequent visits to France, and the deep interest which 
it is impossible not to feel concerning recent as well 
as current events, have suggested the writing of this 
small book, with the view of presenting a simple 
intelligible History of the French nation — its Rise, 
Progress, Revolutionary- Tumults, and Reverses, with 
such remarks as spring from some acquaintance with 
the condition and character of the people. Of course, 
the book is in no respect designed to supersede the 
perusal of larger and more exhaustive works, of which 
there is an abundance. 

The Story of France, though I may not have been 
successful in telling it, offers more than matter of enter- 
tainment. In the whole range of Historical literature, 
nothing presents so instructive a warning. 

W. C. 

Edinburgh, May 1S71. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

THE GAULS— CONQUEST BY THE ROMANS I 



CHAPTER II. 

CONQUEST OF ROMANISED GAULS BY THE FRANKS— 

THE MEROVINGIAN AND CARLOVINGIAN DYNASTIES... J 



CHAPTER III. 

FRANCE BECOMES A DISTINCT MONARCHY, 843 — SET- 
TLEMENT OF THE NORMANS — THE CAPETIAN 
DYNASTY 20 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE WARS BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND, I339- 

1455 29 



CHAPTER V. 

LOUIS XI. TO DEATH OF FRANCIS I. — I461-I547 yj 



vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

PAGE 

HENRY II.— FRANCIS II. — CHARLES IX. — HENRY III. — 

1547-1589 49 

CHAPTER VII. 

HENRY IV. — 1589-1610 67 

CHAPTER VIII. 

LOUIS XIII. — 161O-1643 8l 

CHAPTER IX. 

LOUIS XIV. — 1643-1715... ,...89 

CHAPTER X. 

LOUIS XV.— 1 715-1774 112 

CHAPTER XI. 

LOUIS XVI.— 1774 TILL MEETING OF THE STATES- 
GENERAL, 1789 131 

CHAPTER XII. 

LOUIS XVI. — THE REVOLUTION, MAY TILL OCTOBER 

1 789 150 

CHAPTER XIII. 

LOUIS XVI. — REVOLUTION CONTINUED, OCTOBER 1 789 

TILL SEPTEMBER 1 792 162 



CONTENTS. vii 

CHAPTER XIV. 

PAGE 

THE REPUBLIC. — SEPTEMBER 1 792 TILL OCTOBER 

1795 • l 79 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE REPUBLIC— DIRECTORY AND CONSULATE — 1 795 

TO 1804 211 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE EMPIRE — NAPOLEON I. — 1804 TO l8l4 235 

CHAPTER XVII. 

RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS — LOUIS XVIII. AND 
-CHARLES X. — 1814 TO 1830 265 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

LOUIS-PHILIPPE. — 1830 TO 1848 280 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE SECOND REPUBLIC, SECOND EMPIRE, AND 
NAPOLEON III. — 1848 TO 1870 290 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENTS— 1 8 70, 1871 — CON- 
CLUSION 312 



FRANCE: 

ITS HISTORY AND REVOLUTIONS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE GAULS — CONQUEST BY THE ROMANS. 

r "PHE country now known as France was, two thousand 
-*- years ago, occupied by different tribes, chiefly of 
Celtic origin, who had made considerable advance as re- 
gards the arts and social circumstances. Some centuries 
previously, the Greeks had established small colonies 
at various places along the coast of the Mediterranean, 
near the mouth of the Rhone, and communicated to 
the natives a knowledge of sundry useful arts and com- 
mercial pursuits. The principal Greek settlement was 
called Massilia; whence the modern name Marseilles. 
At the time our history opens, the country was named 
Gallia by the Romans, a designation which, transformed 
into Gaul by the English, we may trace to the original 
term Celtcz or Keltce, the Celts, and which we see per- 
petuated in the familiar words Gael and Gaelic. 

As modified by intercourse with the Greeks and 
Romans, the Gauls were by no means in a state of 
barbarism. They had fortified towns, with a civil and 

a 



2 FRANCE. 

military polity presided over by chiefs, reputed for their 
bravery. They were skilled in war, for which they were 
well provided with horses, chariots, and arms. Fond 
of ornament, their clothing and equipments were pictur- 
esque ; and as they wore long flowing hair, their appear- 
ance in warlike costume was particularly striking. With 
a teeming population, and warlike propensities, they 
made various inroads on Spain and the north of Italy, 
with a view to secure lands for settlement. They 
were so successful in these invasions that, previous to 
400 b.c, they had established themselves in northern 
Italy, which became known as Cisalpine Gaul. Pushing 
their way through the country of the Etruscans, they 
even penetrated as far as Rome, which they several 
times attacked, retiring with no little booty. 

The Romans were not a people to endure encroach- 
ments of this nature. A resolution was formed to 
conquer the whole of Gaul, on the north as well as 
south of the Alps. As a beginning, Cisalpine Gaul was 
subjugated about 170 B.C.; and a few years later the 
Romans overran and secured that extensive district of 
Gaul on the Mediterranean, which, being constituted a 
Province of the state, acquired the name Provence, by 
which it is still popularly known. This region, watered 
by the Rhone and other rivers, abounding in picturesque 
hills and fertile valleys, with sunny slopes to the south, 
became a favourite resort for Roman families of dis- 
tinction. Of this we have the best evidence in the 
gigantic ruins of the amphitheatres at Nlmes, Aries, and 
Frejus, the triumphal arches at Aix and Orange, and 
the aqueducts, temples, and other architectural remains 
which survive the havoc of the middle ages, and are 
now objects of curiosity to the traveller. 



5ob.c] THE GAULS. 3 

Before Provence had been well settled by the Romans, 
the whole of Gaul was conquered by Julius Caesar, 58 to 
50 B.C. This conquest by the Romans is the first great 
fact in French history. Caesar has given an account of 
his campaigns in his famed Commentaries on the wars in 
Gaul ; in which, speaking of himself in the third person, 
he makes us acquainted with the difficulties he encoun- 
tered in subduing the different tribes. He opens his 
narrative with the statement, that 'all Gaul is divided 
into three parts,' each occupied by a people ' differing 
from each other in language, customs, and laws;' but 
although there may have been three principal divisions, 
with some distinction as to dialect and usages, it is 
understood that there was a general uniformity in char- 
acter. The most marked difference was seen in the 
Aquitani, a people who lived in the district adjoining the 
Pyrenees, and who, from recent investigations, apr>p^~ 
to have belonged to a race of still ~; iter antiquity 
than the Celts; the memorials of sue- an early race 
being even now observable in various pa* of western 
Europe. 

Whatever was the precise origin of the Gallic tribes, 
they had for the most part adopted one or other of 'che 
dialects of the Celtic language, and fierce and int' 
able, they were not subdued by Caesar without prot' acted 
and desperate encounters. In particular, he exp ;ri 
much difficulty in overcoming a tribe which dwelt among 
the mountains of Auvergne, commanded by a warrior 
of great strategic skill and bravery, whose \iame, being 
unknown, has been commemorated b] tye designation 
Vercingetorix, signifying chief or general. The town 
of Gergovia, occupying the flat top of ^ mountain (near 
the present town of Clermont-Ferrand^, was so strongly 



4 FRANCE, 

fortified, and so ably defended, that the Roman armies 
were effectually baffled and forced to retire. It was 
only after much harassing warfare that the tribe was 
conquered; when brave Vercingetorix yielding himself 
prisoner, was, to the discredit of Caesar, cruelly put to 
death. 

Losing their independence, the Gauls in time adopted 
the manners, the language, and the laws of the 
Romans, in which respect the circumstances of their 
conquest differed considerably from what occurred in 
Britain, where the native Celts, in great numbers, fled 
before the Roman arms, and found a permanent refuge 
mong the mountains of Wales and the Highlands of 
Gotland, where their descendants still retain the char- 
teristics of an ancient Celtic people. It was one of 
^ wise provisions of the Roman sway to communicate 
privileges of Roman citizenship to the people of the 
cot 1 tries which they colonised and brought into subjec- 
tion. Accordingly, there sprung up in the larger towns 
.ul a system of municipal corporations, which were 
long strongholds of civic freedom. The chief cities 
iern France can trace their history to the time 
tey flourished under Roman domination. At this 
4od, Paris, called Lutetia, and Lyons, called 
were already noted as important seats of 
The name Paris is derived from the Parisii, 
a le so called by the Romans. Their city 

be defensible position on an island in the 

Seir ^quently the object of warlike contest. 

Previa ' conquest by the Romans, the Gauls, 

like all th 'tic nations, adhered to the religion 

of the Druk 1 was a species of Paganism, with 

some supersti rence to the heavenly bodies. 



320 A.D.J THE ROMANS. 5 

According to Cassar, the Druids acted as priests, teachers, 
and judges, and conducted their religious worship in the 
recesses of forests. It has been usually considered that 
the circles of upright stones, still existing in various parts 
of France and the British Islands, are the remains of 
Druidic temples ; but of this there is no certainty. It 
is now conjectured with more probability, that these 
circles, as well as several other rude stone structures — 
some consisting of slabs piled one on the other in the 
form of tables, and variously known as dolmens or 
cro7nlechs — are of an antiquity anterior to the Druids, 
though they may have been used by them in their cere- 
monial observances. The whole of these relics, which 
are exceedingly curious, point to an origin of which 
there is no record in history. 

The Romans made earnest efforts to extirpate the 
Druidic faith and practices in Gaul, and to a certain 
extent they succeeded in introducing their own fanciful 
polytheism, as is evidenced by the stone altars, dedicated 
to different heathen gods, found in many parts of France. 
The Druidic and the Roman superstitions both yielded 
in time to the teaching of Christian missionaries, one of 
whom, St Denis, suffered martyrdom at Paris about 260 
A.D. On the establishment of Christianity in the 
empire by Constantine, about 320 a.d., all the old forms 
of heathenism disappeared, and the country passed 
under the clerical rule of a regular body of ecclesi- 
astics. Of these, none obtained greater celebrity for 
his learning and sanctity than St Martin of Tours, who 
flourished in the latter part of the fourth century • and 
from whose annual festival is derived the winter term 
(November n), called Martinmas. 

During their occupancy of Gaul, the Romans effected 



6 FRANCE. 

a number of improvements, not the least of which con- 
sisted in roads made in various directions, and extending 
from Rome to the shores of the British Channel. 
Remains of the old Roman roads are still visible, the 
most interesting being that which was carried along the 
rugged shores of the Mediterranean by way of Nice. 
The Romans also did much to advance the interests of 
the Gauls, by introducing, or at least extending, the 
culture of several sub-tropical plants, including the vine, 
olive, orange, lemon, and fig, which grow with great 
luxuriance in the south, and now form staple products 
of the country. 

The Romans bore sway in Gaul for upwards of four 
hundred and fifty years. The part latest abandoned 
was Provence. The natives, almost everywhere picking 
up the language of the intruders, had become Roman- 
ised Celts, and were identified with the Latin-speaking 
nations. However beneficent was in many respects the 
Roman rule, it was also somewhat injurious; for the 
tutelage of a whole people, as of individuals, has always 
an enervating and detrimental effect. It was so in 
Gaul as well as in Britain under Roman protection and 
guidance. The native race lost much of their sturdy 
independence of character ; and, as it proved, they were 
unable to contend successfully against the torrents of 
invaders who poured in upon them on the decay and 
dismemberment of the Roman empire at the beginning 
of the fifth century. 



CHAPTER II. 

CONQUEST OF ROMANISED GAULS BY THE FRANKS — THE 
MEROVINGIAN AND CARLOVINGIAN DYNASTIES. 

"C*VER since the days of Caesar, Gaul had been 
■*~ - ' troubled with the menaces and attempted inva- 
sions of Teutonic or German tribes who occupied the 
right bank of the Rhine. When the Roman protection 
was enfeebled, the encroachments of these tribes 
increased in audacity. In the fifth century, three 
Teutonic or German tribes established themselves in 
Gaul — the Visigoths on the south, the Burgundians 
on the east, and the Franks on the north. These 
invaders are understood to have been impelled forward 
by hordes of Huns, an Asiatic race, who at this era 
made forays into Europe, plundering and driving every- 
thing before them, and who finally established them- 
selves in a country on the Danube, which takes from 
them the name Hungary. 

There is no distinct account of the cessation of 
Roman rule in Gaul, and the manner of settlement of the 
Teutonic tribes. It is only known that there was much 
fighting and commotion, as also much suffering on the 
part of the Romanised Celts, before the new-comers had 
made themselves at home in the country. The Franks 
— a name assumed to signify freemen — poured in from 
the countries east of the Rhine, and from that part of 



8 FRANCE. 

the Netherlands known as Brabant. Just as it was the 
fortune of England to derive its national designation from 
the Angles, who invaded it from the continent, so was 
the name France derived from the colony of Franks who 
intruded themselves into Gaul, and obtained supremacy, 
about the middle of the fifth century. This settlement 
of the Franks is the second important fact in French 
history. 

It does not appear that the various bodies of Teutonic 
invaders made any serious change in the language 
and the religion of the population. The ecclesiastical 
and municipal institutions survived the shock of 
repeated invasions. Nor did there arise any percep- 
tible change in the character of the people. Inasmuch 
as the intruders were numerically much fewer than 
the descendants of the ancient inhabitants, they were in 
time absorbed and lost sight of. This circumstance 
corresponds with the well-known truth in ethnology — 
the science which treats of varieties in races — that in 
the blending of races of mankind, the physical features 
and mental character of the larger mass ultimately pre- 
dominate. On this account it is important to note, as 
throwing some light on their history, that the French, 
■after innumerable vicissitudes, have remained essentially 
a Celtic people. Their language is a variety of the 
Latin which they acquired from the Romans, with but a 
slight infusion of the Teutonic forms of speech ; and 
till this day their general character is very much what 
it was described in the works of various ancient writers. 
By Caesar and others, they are spoken of as vain and 
quarrelsome, fickle in their sentiments, impulsive, fond 
of novelties, hot in attack, but quickly discouraged 
in defeat They were more brave than considerate, 



450-a.d.] THE FRANKS. g 

and in their sacrifices of slaves in the religious services 
of the Druids, they were guilty of extreme cruelty. 
This, however, was a universal failing among pagan 
nations ; and not until the teaching of Christianity had 
softened the natural ruggedness of character, were 
sentiments of humanity either understood or acted on. 

While Gaul was in the course of settlement by a 
dominant horde of Franks, it was exposed on its 
north-western shores to an invasion of a remarkable 
nature from the opposite coast of Britain. The with- 
drawal of the Romans from Britain led, as is well known, 
to irruptions into that island of Angles, Saxons, and 
Jutes. Fleeing from these intruders, the natives, who, 
in Cornwall and its vicinity, had never been Romanised, 
sought refuge on the coast of Gaul. Flights of this 
kind took place from the middle of the fifth to the 
middle of the sixth century. Arriving in the peninsula, 
of which Brest is now the principal port, the numerous 
refugees from Britain were among kindred tribes of 
Celts, who, in their remote and mountainous territory, 
had been so slightly affected by the Romans as still to 
speak their ancient tongue. With these the Britons 
appear to have readily blended ; the province took from 
them the name Bretagne or Brittany ; and although 
passing under the rule of the Franks, the natives, as well 
as the immigrants from Britain, changed neither their 
language nor their usages, but long remained a people 
in many respects peculiar. Even now, after a lapse of 
twelve hundred years, the manners and character of the 
Bretons differ somewhat from those of their French 
neighbours. 

Establishing themselves in Gaul, the Franks retained 
their former possessions in Germany. The first king of 



io FRANCE. 

the united territory was Clovis, or Chlodwig, a name 
which in modern German assumes the form Ludwig, and 
in French Louis. Clovis flourished at the close of the 
fifth century. Embracing Christianity, he was baptised 
at Rheims, 496 a.d. From this circumstance, that 
ancient city — formerly the capital of a Celtic tribe called 
the Remi, and hence its name — acquired such a deeply 
religious interest as to become the place for the corona- 
tion of the kings of France. 

Clovis is sometimes spoken of as the first king of 
France, which is scarcely correct. The country we call 
France had not as yet acquired that designation, nor 
had it any distinct political existence for some cen- 
turies later. Clovis was, properly speaking, king of 
the Franks, and his kingdom was styled Frankenric, 
the Frankish monarchy. From Clovis's grandfather, 
a chief named Merewig, or Merowaeus, the ruling 
family became known as the Merovingian dynasty. 
Of this primary dynasty, there were, besides Clovis, 
several kings named Clotaire, and others named Chil- 
deric, Chilperic, and Dagobert. Of the whole of them 
little good is recorded. 

In subduing and taking possession of countries by 
military violence, it became at this, and a later time, the 
practice in Europe, for the king or conqueror to give 
lands to chiefs on which they might settle and exercise 
sway. The terms of such gifts were, that the chiefs 
should be ready, by themselves and their retainers, to 
help the sovereign in time of war, and otherwise yield 
a loyal obedience. To Clovis is usually ascribed the 
introduction of this practice among his subordinates, 
when securing his rule over Gaul ; a practice which 
grew, in process of time, into a regular feudal system in 



500 A.D.] MERO VINGIAN D YNASTY. 1 1 

the country. It was a system of superiors and vassals, 
graduated to meet the exigencies of an unsettled state of 
society. The kings were the superiors of the feudatories, 
and they in turn were the superiors of the vassals or 
tenants who held lands from them. Beneath all, there 
were bodies of serfs or bondsmen, who, for the most 
part, were not at liberty to quit the soil on which they 
were born, but were disposed of along with it. 

To regulate a system so complicated in its obliga- 
tions, there sprung up among the Franks a body of 
law, known as the Salic law — the name Salic being of 
doubtful origin, but generally supposed to be derived 
from the Salians, one of the Frankish tribes. According 
to the Salic law, no female could inherit the lands of a 
feudatory; for the simple reason that females could not 
render that military service for which the lands were 
held of the sovereign. By a species of analogy, the 
rule of excluding females from succession to the French 
crown came to be a recognised principle, though it 
sometimes became the cause of civil war. 

From the introduction of the feudal system by 
the Merovingian dynasty is dated the rise of those 
dukes, counts, and other highly privileged personages 
who figure in the history of the country; some of 
them attaining to an almost independent supremacy 
in the provinces in which they held feudal rule. By 
considerate historians, the feudal system in its early 
stages is deemed to have been beneficial in limiting an 
excess of power in the sovereign, and so saving a govern- 
ment from sinking to the character of an Oriental 
despotism ; but it is equally certain — and this is a fact 
of the utmost significance in French history — that the 
system grew into a gigantic abuse, and, though modified 



12 FRANCE. 

in the course of ages, it obstructed the rise of an inde- 
pendent middle class, was detrimental to the general 
progress of society, and ultimately led to overwhelming 
national disasters. 

With the disappearance of the Romans,' and the rise 
of the Frankish power, the middle ages — or medieval 
period, as they are sometimes styled — begin. These 
ages were a long dreary period of strife, injustice, and 
suffering, relieved by only one beneficent institution, 
the Church, and ultimately the spirit of chivalry, which 
professed to succour the oppressed. It is to this period 
we have to refer the building of the older cathedrals, 
churches, and monasteries, many of them still in good 
condition, and the feudal castles now in ruin on the 
banks of the Rhine and other picturesque localities. 

During the rule of the Merovingian dynasty, there 
arose a j practice of delivering splendid habits to the 
members of their households on the occasion of great 
festivals ; from which originated the usage of feudal 
retainers wearing a dress of particular colours, and with 
distinctive badges pertaining to their superiors. From 
the circumstance that these dresses and badges were 
originally given, in French livre, comes the English 
word livery, a phrase of honourable distinction in the 
middle ages, perpetuated in the official garb of civic 
guilds (whence the ' liverymen ' of London), and in the 
attire of public and private servants. The wearing of 
livery is thus traceable to a Frankish custom in the 
sixth century. 

The Merovingian dynasty expired at the beginning of 
the eighth century. It had become the custom to 
appoint an official, styled Mayor of the Palace, to 
conduct the government in the manner of a modern 



752.] CARL VINGIAN D YNASTY. 13 

prime-minister. One of these, named Charles Martel, 
signifying Charles the Hammer, rose to power in 714 
a.d., and his rule gave a new turn to Frankish history. 
Charles rendered himself notable for his extraordinary 
skill and bravery in relieving his dominions from the 
invasion of the Saracens, whom he defeated in several 
battles, and drove back into Spain. He died in the 
midst of his victories, 741. 

Charles Martel left the government of the kingdom to 
his two sons, Pepin and Carloman. Pepin, known in 
history as Pepin le Bref, or Pepin the Short, acquired 
the entire government by dispossessing the sons of Carlo- 
man ; and by an act of usurpation succeeded in setting 
entirely aside Childeric III., the last of the Merovingian 
dynasty, and getting himself installed as king of the 
Franks, 752. 

Pepin was the first king of the Carlovingian dynasty, 
which has been so called either from Pepin's father, 
Charles Martel, or from Pepin's son, Charlemagne. Pepin 
was an able and valorous sovereign. Having recom- 
mended himself to the clergy by his professions of attach- 
ment to the church, they assisted at his consecration; this 
being the first ceremony of the kind among the Franks. 
Pepin did not fall short of the expectations formed of 
him. With a powerful army, he relieved Rome from 
the attacks of the Lombards, a race from the north 
of Germany which had settled in the north of Italy, 
and were at the time masters of Italy ; after which 
important service, he took from the Lombards Ravenna 
and some other' of their possessions, and assigned 
them as a patrimony to the church. This transaction 
took place, 754, from which, accordingly, was dated 
the temporal power of the pope. Pepin afterwards 



14 FRANCE. 

consolidated the Frankish monarchy by reconquering 
Aquitaine, a province which, extending at first from 
the Garonne, and afterwards from the Loire, to the 
Pyrenees, had given some trouble by an assumption 
of independence. Pepin died 768. 

On Pepin's decease, his sons, Charles and Carloman, 
were jointly his successors ; but by the death of Carlo- 
man, and the exclusion of both his sons from the throne, 
Charles, who subsequently acquired the name Charle- 
magne, or Charles the Great, became sole king of the 
Franks. Charlemagne's great military genius was first 
evinced in a defensive war against the Saxons, by which 
he extended his dominions in Germany, securing his 
conquests by castles and garrisons. Called to the aid 
of Pope Adrian I. against the Lombards, he crossed the 
Alps from Geneva, with two armies, by the Great St 
Bernard and Mont Cenis, in 773, and overthrew the 
kingdom of the Lombards. The Lombard dukes 
acknowledged him as their king, and he secured the 
pope's favour by confirming the gift which Pepin had 
made of Ravenna, 774. He was crowned at Milan by 
the pope with the iron crown of the Lombards, a crown 
reserved for similar ceremonials in a later age. 

After this, Charlemagne was, on different occasions, 
engaged in suppressing revolts in Saxony, in subduing 
the Saracens in Spain, part of which country he added 
to his dominions, and in effecting victories over the 
Bulgarians and Huns. In the midst of these warlike 
undertakings, he went, in 781, to Italy, where the pope 
crowned his second son king of Italy, and his third son 
Louis, an infant three years old, king of Aquitaine. 
Ordinarily, in the intervals of peace, he dwelt at Aachen, 
as it is called in Germany, but better known by its 



8oa] CHARLEMAGNE. 15 

modern French appellation, Aix-la-Chapelle, which he 
enriched with a palace and cathedral, and chose as a 
favourite place of residence. 

Proceeding to Italy to support Pope Leo III. against 
the rebellious Romans, Charlemagne was invested with 
an important honorary distinction. When worshipping 
in St Peter's Church (not the modern St Peter's), on 
Christmas-day, 800, the pope unexpectedly, as it appeared, 
set a crown upon his head, and, amidst the acclamations 
of the people, saluted him as Carolus Augustus, emperor 
of the Romans. The act constituted Charlemagne 
successor of the old Roman emperors who had long 
since disappeared; and though the title imparted no 
real power, it greatly confirmed and increased the respect 
entertained for the great Frankish monarch. Such was 
the simple and ceremonial origin of the long line of 
emperors and kings of Germany which existed for more 
than a thousand years. 

The life of this great medieval sovereign was not 
merely devoted to military enterprises. Charlemagne 
zealously endeavoured to promote education, agriculture, 
arts, manufactures, and commerce. He improved the 
political and social institutions, and projected great 
national works. He possessed an amount of learning 
unusual in his age; he could speak Latin and Greek, 
and encouraged learned men to come about his court. 
To the church he was a munificent benefactor; and to 
his exertions is due the conversion of the Saxons to 
Christianity. Desirous to possess a complete copy of 
the Bible, he employed Alcuin, a native of England, and 
one of the most industrious and ingenious monks of his 
time, to prepare a copy, which was executed by the 
labour of twenty-two years, from 778 to 800 a.d. This 



16 FRANCE. 

singularly precious Bible of Charlemagne is preserved 
in the British Museum. 

The fame of Charlemagne spread to all parts of the 
world having any connection with Europe. His con- 
temporary was the Calif Harun-al-Raschid, who sent 
ambassadors to salute him. He enjoyed good health 
till shortly before his death, 28th January 814, when 
seventy-two years of age. He was buried in a capacious 
vault in the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle ; not laid in a 
tomb in the usual manner, but fixed in a sitting attitude 
on a marble throne, dressed in the imperial robes, with a 
sceptre in his hand, the sword Joyeuse by his side, and 
a crown upon his head. On his knees w r as laid a copy 
of the Gospels, and hung from a girdle at his side was 
the pilgrim's pouch which he had borne while in life. 
There, by a strange attempt to extend life's fleeting 
honours into the realms of death, was left in ghastly 
state the mortal frame of the great Frankish king ; and 
there it remained, sinking into decay and . tatters, for a 
space of a hundred and eighty-three years. In 997 the 
vault was opened by the emperor Otho, and the relics 
being removed to the open church above, a few of them 
are still preserved as objects of curiosity or veneration. 
The crown of Charlemagne was taken to Vienna. 

The greatness of Charlemagne did not exempt him 
from family misfortunes. In 810, he lost his second son, 
Pepin, who had been anointed king of Lombardy ; and 
next year, 811, his eldest son, Karl or Charles, died. He 
had but one son left, Louis or Ludwig, king of Aquitaine, 
whom, in 813, he assumed as joint ruler of the empire. 
This arrangement lasted but a year. By the decease of 
Charlemagne in 814, Louis became sole emperor; his 
vast dominions comprehending all that had been subject 



843.] TREATY OF VERDUN. 17 

to his father, except Italy, which Charlemagne had 
assigned to his grandson Bernhard, a son of Pepin. 
There were good hopes of Louis, but nature had not 
qualified him for the dignity of emperor. He wanted 
the genius of his father. By his French-speaking sub- 
jects he was styled Louis le Debownaire — the easy, good- 
natured, weak. He might also have been called the 
extravagant and the wicked. He began by squandering 
the crown domains in fiefs to his favourites. Next, he 
divided his dominions among his three sons, which led 
to strife and confusion. His nephew Bernhard, stand- 
ing in the way of these arrangements for his sons, was 
treacherously enticed to Chalons, where his eyes were 
put out, and he died. The wife of Louis having died, 
he married again, and this second wife instigated him 
to a fresh division of the empire, 829, to provide for her 
infant son Charles. There ensued an indescribable 
period of parricidal and fratricidal war; the sons being 
divided into factions, which committed the greatest 
atrocities. At length Louis le Debonnaire, who, in 
French history, takes rank as Louis L, was released 
from all his troubles by death, 840. 

We now arrive at that important event, the breaking 
up of Charlemagne's mighty empire, to which is to be 
traced much of the political condition of modern con- 
tinental Europe, One of Louis's sons having pre- 
deceased him, he left three to divide and inherit his 
dominions. These were named Lothair, Louis, and 
Charles. The division took place by the famous treaty 
of Verdun in 843. Lothair, the eldest, got "the title of 
emperor, along with the following possessions : That 
portion of the Frankish territories which consisted of a 
long strip along the left bank of the Rhine, beginning at 



1 8 FRANCE. 

its mouth, and embracing the basins of the Scheldt, the 
Meuse, and the Moselle; whence it proceeded along the 
valleys of the Saone and Rhone to the Mediterranean ; 
and finally included the kingdom of Italy. This strip, 
which extended across, Europe, we may call Middle 
Frankland. Louis obtained all that lay on the east 
of the Rhine, which forms the chief part of modern 
Germany, and was then called East Frankland ; 
hence he is styled in history Louis the German. 
Charles, the youngest son, got the whole of old Gaul 
that lay west of Lothair's kingdom. It was called West 
Frankland, or, in Latin, Francia Occidentalis. Hence 
the term France, and the origin of the French as a 
distinct people. 

There were soon subdivisions. At Lothair's death 
in 853, his three sons divided his possessions. Louis 
II. got the kingdom of Italy, and the imperial dignity; 
Charles, the Saone and Rhone portion of Middle Frank- 
land; and Lothair IL, the northern part along the 
Rhine, which was called Lothair's kingdom, in German 
Lothringen, abbreviated by the French into Lorraine, 
the name which still adheres to a portion of it. On the 
death of these three, there were fresh divisions ; and in 
the course of time East Frankland parted into those 
petty kingdoms and grand-duchies which now, after an 
interval of a thousand years, there is an effort to 
reconsolidate into German unity. 

In the southern part of Middle Frankland along 
the Rhone, there arose, after the treaty of Verdun, a 
Burgundian kingdom, usually called the kingdom of 
Aries, from the residence of its founder. At first it 
paid homage to the German emperors, but afterwards 
the greater part of it was incorporated with France. 



843.] LOTHAIR'S KINGDOM. 19 

We are not, however, to confound this ancient Bur- 
gundian kingdom with the dukedom of Burgundy, which 
was a creation of the tenth century, and consisted of a 
territory in the valley of the Saone. 

While the Franks have communicated the name 
France to the larger portion of old Gaul, they are 
remembered in Germany by the names of two cities — 
Frankfort-on-ihe-Oder, and Frankfort-on-the-Maine — the 
latter having been constituted the capital of the German 
empire at the great upbreak of the Frankish dominions 
in 843. They were likewise commemorated in the 
name Frahken (in general literature, Franconia), applied, 
until comparatively recent times, to a district of country 
which included the archbishopric of Mayence. What 
concerns us here is the history of West Frankland, the 
France of modern times. 



CHAPTER III. 

FRANCE BECOMES A DISTINCT MONARCHY, 843 — SETTLE- 
MENT OF THE NORMANS — THE CAPETIAN DYNASTY. 

DY the treaty of Verdun, 843, Charles, grandson of 
Charlemagne, and distinguished as Charles the 
Bald, was invested with the greater part of old Gaul, 
which in the way we have described became known as 
France. The French monarchy, therefore, apart from all 
Teutonic connection, dates from the middle of the ninth 
century, and was hereditarily a branch of the Carlovingian 
dynasty. Correctly speaking, Charles the Bald was the 
first king of France, though he is not ordinarily so styled. 
At the time of his accession, France had considerably 
advanced in population, and the greater number of the 
presently existing towns had come into existence. 
Things generally, however, were in an unsettled con- 
dition. The country was harassed with an entirely 
new order of invaders by sea, who came from the north 
of Europe. Known as Northmen, or Normans, they 
issued in warlike incursions from Scandinavia, part of 
which is the modern Denmark, and made havoc with 
the newly set up kingdom of France. In their vessels 
they ascended the Seine and the Loire, besieging Paris, 
and plundering and burning Orleans. 

These Norman invasions in the latter half of the ninth 
and beginning of the tenth century, constitute another 



843.] ORIGIN OF FRENCH MONARCHY. 21 

great fact in early French history. Charles the Bald 
tried by bribes to buy off the ruthless intruders, but this 
temporising policy only led to renewed incursions. At 
length, after many years of torment, during the reigns 
of several successive kings, Charles the Simple came to 
definite terms with Rolf or Rollo, a Norman prince, 
leader of the invading hosts. The terms were, that 
Rollo should consent to be baptised and embrace the 
Christian religion; that he should be married to his 
daughter Gisela, and receive as a fief the province of 
Neustria, for which he should yield homage to the 
crown. These exceedingly favourable terms being 
accepted, Rollo was baptised, assuming the name 
Robert. The date of this remarkable event was 912. 
The old designation Neustria being about the same 
time laid aside, the province was entitled Normandy, 
and Robert, Duke of Normandy, as he was called, 
attained to the distinction of being one of the twelve 
peers of France. 

The settlement of the Normans gave a new char- 
acter to the province. They became the founders of 
a new race in France — a race fresh and energetic, 
physically vigorous, and of high mental qualities. The 
settlement of the Normans proved therefore beneficial 
to the country. Adopting the religion and usages of 
the French, the settlers in Normandy speedily distin- 
guished themselves as the bravest soldiers, the boldest 
sailors, and the most skilful and tasteful artisans. 
High-minded and patriotic, they took the lead in all 
daring enterprises. Rouen was their capital, which 
under them became a splendid city. Besides this prin- 
cipal town, other places were adorned by them with 
cathedrals and churches of a noble style of architecture, 



22 FRANCE. 

which till our own times remain the admiration of the 
world. Within two hundred years of their settlement 
in France, the Normans developed a great school of 
narrative poetry, whose cultivators in the twelfth century, 
the Trouveurs, rivalled in celebrity the lyrical Troubadours 
of southern France. To the people of Great Britain, 
however, the Normans are chiefly interesting historically, 
from their conquest of England in 1066, under Duke 
William II., son of Robert II. The descendant of a 
Scandinavian Viking, or sea-rover, occupied the English 
throne, and became founder of the Norman dynasty. 

The exploit of crossing the Channel with a body of 
Norman-French, and effecting the conquest of England, 
was commemorated by Queen Matilda, wife of the 
Conqueror, by a remarkable piece of needlework, which 
received the name of the Bayeux Tapestry, from being 
preserved in a public building at Bayeux, in Normandy. 
It consists of a long web of canvas, on which is worked 
a vast number of figures representing the principal cir- 
cumstances connected with the Conquest. Tradition, 
with much probability, ascribes this laborious work to 
the needle of Matilda; it is at least known that she 
superintended its execution, and presented it to the 
cathedral of Bayeux. The tapestry, in good preserva- 
tion, remains one of the most interesting objects of 
historical value in France. 

The Carlovingian dynasty terminated in 987, by the 
death of Louis V., styled Louis le Faineant, or the. 
Sluggard, who left no direct heirs. An election took 
place, when the appointment fell on Hugh Capet, a per- 
sonage of wealth and ability occupying the position of 
Duke of France, Burgundy, and Aquitaine, and Count 
of Paris and Orleans. He was grandson of Eudes, 



991.] HUGH CAPET. 23 

Count of Paris, who, in the time of ^Carloman, brother 
of Charles the Simple, had done good service by 
defending Paris against an attack by the Normans. 
It was a new thing to appoint a king by election ; but 
circumstances rendered it necessary. The affairs of 
the kingdom, as has been said, were in deplorable 
disorder — a result of the vicious practice of creating 
feudal chiefs, who in their respective territories levied 
taxes for their own use, and left the sovereign with no 
special means to carry on the business of the state, 
and maintain his power. Hugh Capet being the most 
noted of these feudatories, and generally esteemed for 
his sagacity and valour, had no difficulty in assembling 
the principal crown-vassals, with the leading ecclesiastical 
dignitaries, and getting himself elected king of France. 
The choice was confirmed by the pope. The only 
objection was that offered by Charles of Lorraine, a 
relative of the deceased monarch ; but he was disposed 
of in the usual cruel way. He was seized, and con- 
fined in prison till he died ; and when his son and 
successor died without issue, the race of the Carlovingians 
was extinct, 991. 

By Hugh Capet, Paris was made the capital of the 
kingdom. Under his successors it rose into consider- 
able importance; churches and colleges were founded, 
and the Parisian merchants formed a powerful guild. 
In the general history of France, for three centuries 
after the accession of the Capetian dynasty, there occurs 
little worthy of remembrance. There were incessant 
and worthless contests among the titled feudal chiefs, 
over whom the kings had but little control, and great 
barbarities were practised. The conquest of England 
by Duke William qf Normandy introduced a new cause 



24 FRANCE. 

of discord, for the Anglo-Norman kings were more 
powerful than the kings of France, to whom they stood 
in the relation of vassals, not only as regards Normandy, 
but eventually Anjou, Aquitaine, and other fiefs. Anjou 
had fallen to the English monarchs by the marriage of 
Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, to Matilda, daughter of 
Henry I., and mother of Henry II. The case of 
Aquitaine was remarkable. In 1137, this ancient duchy, 
which became known as Guienne, was united to the 
crown of France by the marriage of Eleanor, its heiress, 
to Louis VII. Eleanor having been divorced for con- 
sanguinity in 1152, afterwards married Henry II. of 
England, who claimed it in her right. Out of this 
entanglement of English rule and French allegiance there 
arose much to disturb the peace of the two countries. 

Happily, the ferocity of the period was partially allayed 
by the rise of chivalry, a term derived from chevalier, a 
horseman or knight. Chivalry had some existence among 
the Franks; but as a positive and well-recognised institu- 
tion it was developed in France during the eleventh cen- 
tury, about the time of the Norman Conquest. It came 
to maturity in connection with feudal usages. In the 
mansions of the barons the youth of the higher classes 
were instructed in those rules of chivalry which formed 
the principal part of their education. To be courteous 
in manners, to endure hardship, to be brave and un- 
selfish, to succour those who were exposed to unjust or 
cruel treatment, and, above all, to honour and protect 
females, formed the leading principles of the code of 
chivalry. Wounds and death were to be held of no 
account in a good cause. The only thing to be shunned 
was the slightest stain on the honour of knighthood. 

These high-souled principles of chivalry were obviously 



I099-] THE CRUSADES. 25 

a result of that universal weakness of the law which left 
the redress of wrongs to the action of individuals. 
As if to inspire the chivalric spirit, and furnish plenty 
of work for its exercise, an enthusiasm broke forth in 
France which spread to other countries in Europe, 
having for its object the rescue of Palestine, or the 
Holy Land, from the thraldom of the Mohammedans. 
The religious wars which ensued, known in history as 
the Crusades, commenced in 1096, and, carried on at 
intervals with varying success, lasted till 1291, a period 
of nearly two hundred years ; the result being so wholly 
fruitless as to leave Palestine in the undisturbed posses- 
sion of the Saracens. Yet, the Crusades, though failing 
in their aim, and attended with, great loss of life and 
suffering, were of some value. They stirred up the general 
intellect, led to international intercourse, and, with an 
enlarged system of commerce, produced many social 
changes. The Crusades, therefore, with all their frantic 
errors, form an important incident in the progress of 
European civilisation. Among the princes and other 
individuals who distinguished themselves in the Crusades, 
was a gallant leader, Godfrey of Bouillon, who took 
Jerusalem by assault, 1099, an d who died after being a 
short time acknowledged as its king. 

In a series of seven sovereigns, from Hugh Capet to 
Louis IX., the only one whose reign is memorable for 
any work of art was that of Philippe II., ordinarily styled 
Philippe Augustus — 1179-1223. It was during his reign 
that the cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris was built, 
though, from its extent and magnificence, it was not 
completed till a later age. The reign of Philippe is 
further remarkable for the crusade in which Richard 
Cceur de Lion was engaged, and for the resumption of 



26 FRANCE. 

Normandy, which ceased to be a fief in the reign of 
King John in England. Louis VIII., who succeeded 
Philippe II., is less favourably remembered. During his 
short reign (12 23-1 2 26), there was carried on a keen 
persecution of a large body of persons in the district of 
Albigeois in Languedoc, on account of their alleged 
heretical opinions. Of these unhappy individuals, known 
as Albigenses, many hundreds of thousands perished by 
the sword and otherwise. At length, the Albigensian 
heresy, as it was called — a forerunner of the Reformed 
doctrines of the sixteenth century — was, by a severity 
of measures, extirpated as an open profession of belief; 
but it left behind it that traditional sentiment, which, 
at a later time, was evinced in the Protestantism of the 
south of France. The establishment of the Inquisition 
and of the order of Friars belongs to this period. 

Languedoc, which as a fief was forfeited through its 
connection with an Albigensian leader, the Count of 
Thoulouse, consisted of a generally mountainous district 
of country on the west side of the Rhone, with the Medi- 
terranean on the south, and having Toulouse for its 
capital. Opposite to it, on the east bank of the Rhone, 
were the provinces of Dauphine and Provence. The 
whole, an early seat of the Romans, and removed con- 
siderably from the Teutonic incursions, constituted a 
somewhat distinct and peculiar district of France in the 
middle ages. The inhabitants spoke a dialect, called 
the Provencal, or langue d'oc — hence the term Languedoc 
— which differed from that spoken in northern France, 
known as the langue d'oui or langue (Toil The distinction 
thus indicated arose from the word employed for yes. In 
the south it was oc, from the Latin hoc; in the north oc was 
compounded with it, and shortened into oil (out). The 



1270.] SAINT LOUIS. 27 

capital of Provence was Aix, which had been a favourite 
resort of the Romans on account of its hot mineral 
waters. In the twelfth century, it became a centre of 
attraction to the Troubadours, who sang their impas- 
sioned poetry in the langue d'oc; two to three centuries 
later, Aix, under its feudatory kings — some of them men 
of refined tastes — was noted for its gaiety, luxury, and 
cultivation of the fine arts. Thus there arose two spots 
of intelligence and refinement in France — Normandy in 
the north, and Languedoc and Provence in the south; 
and both may be said to have exerted a material 
influence in the diffusion of ideas which surmounted 
the barbarisms of the medieval period. 

Louis IX., son of Louis VIII., and who ascended the 
throne in 1226, was a learned and intelligent monarch, 
and animated with the prevailing enthusiasm regarding 
the Crusades, in which he took part. He built the 
Sainte-Chapelle, a beautiful work of art in Paris; estab- 
lished the Sorbonne, an eminent academic body for 
theological students in the same city; and gave so many 
tokens of piety and attachment to the church, that at 
his death he was canonised, and is therefore usually 
called St Louis. As a legislator, he is noted for a code 
of criminal law, much required at the time, entitled the 
Etablissements of St Louis, which enforced discrimina- 
tion in punishments. He further was successful in 
strengthening the monarchy, by absorbing certain fiefs 
which had been a source of trouble to the state. His 
brother, Charles of Anjou, was chosen by the pope as 
the king of Naples and Sicily, a circumstance which led 
to subsequent French claims on Naples. 

St Louis died of the plague, while besieging Tunis 
in 1270. He left several sons, the elder of whom 



28 FRANCE. 

succeeded him as Philippe III., and his youngest son was 
Robert, Count of Clermont and Lord of Bourbon, the 
ancestor of the whole branches of the House of Bourbon. 
Philippe III. died in 1285, when he was succeeded by 
his son, Philippe IV. A younger son, Charles, Count 
of Valois, was the ancestor of the Valois branch of 
the royal family. Philippe IV., surnamed le Bel, is 
noted for having given prominence to the burgher 
element in the nation. On the 28th March 1302, he 
called together the etats generaux, or states-general, at 
which the tiers etat, the third estate or burgher class, 
appeared with the nobles and clergy. This recognition 
of power in the commons marks an advance in the 
political history of the country, and corresponds with 
what occurred about the same time in England and 
Scotland, where the kings, for their own security, had 
to confer privileges on the commons and burghal muni- 
cipalities. By the decease of Philippe IV. in 13 14, 
he was succeeded by his son Louis X., who died in 
1316. A posthumous child of Louis X., named John I., 
having lived only a few days, a second son of Philippe 
IV. succeeded as Philippe V., and he was succeeded by 
a third son, Charles IV. On the death of this last in 
1327, the direct Capetian line, as regards heirs male, 
was extinct, and by the Salic law the succession devolved 
on Philippe of the House of Valois, son of Charles of 
Valois, brother of Philippe le Bel, who ascended the 
throne as Philippe VI. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE WARS BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND, 1339~^4SS- 

TVT OW begins upwards of a century of desolating war 
^ ^ between France and England, relieved only by tem- 
porary truces to enable the combatants to attend to other 
matters, and recruit their respective forces. The cause 
of the war was the accession of Philippe VI., whose 
right to the throne was disputed by Edward III. of 
England. Denying the validity of the Salic law, Edward 
insisted that he had a preferable claim to the throne of 
France, in right of his mother, Isabella, daughter of 
Philippe IV. To this source of discord was added a 
festering disagreement regarding the vassalage exacted 
from the English monarchs, on account of Guienne 
and other fiefs. The embittered quarrel was now to be 
fought out. Substantially, the question to be settled 
was the assumption of superiority by England over 
France. Taken in connection with Edward's base 
attempt, in emulation of his father and grandfather, to 
secure the sovereignty of Scotland, he is chargeable with 
a most unjustifiable degree of ambition. 

The war with France began in 1339, and, extending 
through the reigns of Philippe VI., John II., Charles V., 
and Charles VI., was not ended until the reign of Charles 
VII. The French had the advantage of fighting a 



30 FRANCE. 

war of defence in their own country; but as their 
forces consisted mainly of knights and feudal retainers, 
they suffered in comparison with the English armies, 
which embraced large numbers of yeomen — a rural 
middle class, descendants of the Anglo-Saxons, well 
skilled in archery. On the 26th August 1346 was fought 
the memorable battle of Cressy, or Crecy (a small town 
to the north of Abbeville), where Edward, with 40,000 
English soldiers, gained a complete victory over a French 
army which, according to Froissart the historian, amounted 
to 100,000 men. The flower of the French chivalry 
was slain, as w r ell as the kings of Bohemia and Majorca, 
who were fighting on the side of France. In this battle, 
Edward's son, the Black Prince, greatly distinguished 
himself; and the crest of the slain Bohemian king, com- 
posed of three ostrich feathers, with the motto, Ich dien, 
' I serve/ being adopted by him in memory of the 
victory, still continues to be borne by the Prince of 
Wales. 

A few days after the battle, Edward laid siege to 
Calais, which, being well walled and garrisoned, held 
out for the long period of twelve months ; it was only 
rendered up after a heroic resistance, arid when the 
inhabitants were reduced to the last extremity by famine. 
Edward's terms of capitulation led to a noble instance 
of self-devotion. He demanded that six of the principal 
burgesses should be surrendered to him bare-headed, 
bare-footed, with halters about their neck ready for 
execution, and bearing the keys of the town in their 
hands. The first who volunteered to be one of the 
victims was Eustace St Pierre, whose name has been 
immortalised in history; and, encouraged by his example, 
five others made up the required number. Coming 



1356.] BATTLE OF POITIERS. 31 

before Edward, he ordered the six men to be immediately 
put to death; but this act of cruelty, which for ever 
would have been a stain on his character, was fortu- 
nately averted by the merciful intercession of his queen, 
Philippa. Calais was now taken possession of by the 
English, who occupied it for the space of 2 1 1 years. 

The sufferings caused in France by the war were not 
less deplorable than the wicked and angry passions, as 
well as the lasting resentments, which were evoked. 
To aggravate the national calamities, a pestilence of 
Oriental origin broke forth, called the Black Death, 
which, from 1348 to 1351, caused a frightful mortality 
in every country in Europe. The total number of 
human beings who perished by this extraordinary plague 
is stated to have been 25,000,000. In the general 
panic, a popular belief prevailed that the pestilence was 
owing to the public wells being poisoned by the Jews. 
The result of the calumny was a cruel and wholly 
unjustifiable persecution of the Hebrew race, whose 
extermination everywhere added greatly to the general 
suffering and loss of life. 

Despite this calamitous visitation, Edward III. prose- 
cuted the war in France. His son, the Black Prince, 
was despatched with a small army to Bordeaux, in 
order to lay waste the country of the enemy. King John 
II., who had succeeded to the throne of France, con- 
sidering this a favourable opportunity for attack, brought 
up his forces; and now was fought the battle of Poitiers, 
13th September 1356, when again the English were vic- 
torious. John was taken prisoner, and being conducted 
to England, was led on horseback in a triumphal proces- 
sion by the Black Prince into London. The government 
of France meanwhile devolved on John's eldest son, 



32 FRANCE. 

Charles (afterwards Charles V.), who, in consequence 
of the province of Dauphine having been assigned in 
heritage to the eldest sons of the reigning monarch, was 
styled the Dauphin. 

At this dismal period, important services were ren- 
dered to the Dauphin by an eminent French general, 
of whom history records many acts of great valour — 
Bertrand du Guesclin, belonging to an ancient family in 
Brittany. He gained numerous battles, and was ulti- 
mately created Count of Longueville and Constable of 
France. His memory is fondly perpetuated as one of 
the notables of his country in the fourteenth century, 
lie died 1380. 

In the course of the war in which Du Guesclin was . 
concerned under the Dauphin, there broke out, in the 
year 1358, an insurrection of the peasantry of the most 
terrible description. Outraged by feudal oppressions 
and positive starvation, and in a state of ungovernable 
fury, they laid hundreds of castles in ruins, and practised 
every kind of enormity. The bands of insurgents receive 
in history the name of the Jacquerie, from the term 
Jacque, contemptuously given in France to an illiterate 
peasant. Their outbreak, which bore a resemblance 
to that of the rebellion of Wat Tyler in England some 
years later (138 1), was at length quelled with immense 
slaughter. 

In 1359, Edward III. renewed the war in France, and 
encountering some reverses, he made a treaty of peace, 
relinquishing his claim on the throne, but retaining a 
great part of the south of France in full sovereignty, and 
surrendering the captive king for a heavy ransom. On 
the death of John II. in 1364, he was succeeded by his 
son, Charles V., surnamed the Wise, and by his prudent 



1415.] AGINCOURT. 33 

management and the valour of Du Guesclin, a great 
part of the territory yielded to the English was recovered. 
Charles died in 1380, and his son, as Charles VI. , 
became king. The condition of France was at this 
time, and shortly afterwards, most miserable. From 
the contests of the Burgundians and the followers of 
Bertrand, EarJ. of Armagnac, about 141 o, there was for a 
time a state of anarchy, mutual slaughter, and rapine — 
for some of which the English were responsible. The 
peace that had been effected with Edward III. was illu- 
sory. By Henry V. the war was renewed on the old 
claim of sovereignty. An English army landing in 
France at a time when the country was distracted by 
internal convulsions, the battle of Agincourt was fought, 
25th October 141 5. The English were again the victors; 
the result being insurrections in Paris and elsewhere, 
rivalling in atrocity those of the Jacquerie of 1358. In 
the course of these horrors, Henry took possession of 
the country, 141 9. Death carried him off in 1422, and 
in the same year Charles VI. died. Here was a fresh 
cause of confusion. The son of the English king, an 
infant, was proclaimed king of France under the title 
of Henry VI., in disregard of the son of Charles VI., 
a youth twenty years of age, who retired to a petty 
provincial possession. 

Aided by the powerful House of Burgundy, which 
found cause for resentment towards the kings of France, 
the rule of the English, with the Duke of Bedford as 
regent, was now paramount. The wish of Edward III. 
was at length realised. France was a dependency of 
England, in civil as well as ecclesiastical matters. Near 
to Paris, the Bishop of Winchester was installed in a 
palace, which, from Bi, the first part of the word bishop, 

c 



34 FRANCE. 

and cetre, the contraction of the last part of Winchester, 
came to be called the Bicetre, a name which is still 
attached to the buildings in this locality. 

The unrighteous domination of a foreign power was 
not destined to be enduring, and, strange to say, it was 
overthrown through the marvellously patriotic and pious 
ardour of an untaught rustic maiden, Jeanne d'Arc, or, 
as she is called in English, Joan of Arc. Under the 
inspiration of what she described as ' visions,' she, with 
fervid eloquence, stimulated a spirit of popular defiance 
against the English intruders, and at length enlisted 
military leaders in the cause. An army was gathered 
together, which attacked and captured Orleans, 7 th May 
1429, the gallantry of Joan on the occasion procuring 
for her the title of Pucelle (P Orleans (Maid of Orleans), 
by which she is still remembered in France. Other 
successes followed. Charles was crowned king of France 
at Rheims. The English, who were at first panic-stricken, 
at length mustered in strength to extinguish the revolt. 
At an encounter at Compiegne, Joan was taken prisoner, 
and, after a cruel captivity, she was tried by the English 
authorities for the alleged, and as we now know it to be, 
impossible, crime of witchcraft; yet absurd as was the 
accusation, she was found guilty, and burned at the 
stake at Rouen, 30th May 1431. Thus perished a poor 
girl, a simple enthusiast, who, on the best historical 
evidence, had the merit of arousing among the French 
that patriotic ardour which ultimately secured the inde- 
pendence of their country. 

Two things materially contributed to this result. While 
England began to complain of the financial exhaustion 
caused by the prolonged French wars, from which no 
benefit was likely to ensue, the king of France was 



I453-] EXPULSION OF THE ENGLISH. 35 

successful in introducing the use of archery along with the 
employment of a species of standing army to supersede 
a reliance on the capricious feudatories of the crown. 
It has been stated that fire-arms were for the first time 
used by the English at the battle of Cressy in 1346 ; but 
it is certain that Edward III. employed some instruments 
of this kind as early as 1327, in his war against the 
Scotch, and that cannons were used by him at the siege 
of Cambrai, in 1339. To him, however, cannot be 
assigned the merit of a discoverer. In Spain, both 
Moors and Christians used artillery as early as the 
twelfth century; and the Arabs, deriving their knowledge 
of gunpowder from the Oriental nations, used some kind 
of fire-arms several centuries earlier. 

Shortly after the tragical death of the Maid of Orleans, 
the English experienced disheartening reverses in their 
French campaigns. In battle after battle, great heroism 
was shewn by the gallant Sir John Talbot, who did his 
utmost to sustain the sinking cause of Henry VI., for 
which, and other services, he was in 1442 created Earl 
of Shrewsbury. His opponent, not less noted for his 
military skill, was the brave Dunois, usually styled the 
Bastard of Orleans. The final encounter took place at 
Chatillon, near Bordeaux, when Talbot, in the eightieth, 
year of his age, was mortally wounded, , and the English 
cause was lost. The date of this event was 20th July 
1453. The claims of the English sovereigns were 
formally abandoned, and all their possessions in France 
were given up, except Calais. When relinquishing Nor- 
mandy, England retained the isles belonging to it, now 
known as the Channel Islands, and which, though per- 
taining to Great Britain, still have in use the laws 
established by their old Norman possessors. Thus 



36 FRANCE. 

ended the great French war, about the time when it 
could no longer be prosecuted; for in 1455 began in 
England the Wars of the Roses, between the rival 
Houses of York and Lancaster, during which, after a 
hundred and fourteen years of harassing intermittent 
hostilities, France was left in peace to pursue the work 
of internal organisation. 

It is melancholy to consider what wrongs were in- 
flicted on France by the long war which Edward III. 
had, in defiance of every legal right, begun in 1339 ; for 
it could be shewn that the protracted struggle of the 
French against English aggression did much to retard the 
social progress of the country. As if to add a sentiment 
of traditional bitterness to the injuries which France had 
been made to endure, Edward styled himself King of 
France, as well as of England; and this empty title, 
often remonstrated against, was continued through suc- 
cessive dynasties, till it was abandoned by George III. 
at the close of the eighteenth century. 



CHAPTER V. 

LOUIS XI. TO DEATH OF FRANCIS I. — 1461-1547. 

T^HE few years which Charles VII. lived after getting 
■*■ rid of the English were devoted to the restoration 
of public order, and increasing the power of the govern- 
ment by, as far as possible, limiting the encroachments 
of the great feudatories. In carrying out these objects 
his rule was despotic but mild, and under it France 
recovered in some measure from the effects of the terrible 
calamities it had endured. His last years were embit- 
tered by the conduct of his eldest son, Louis, who from 
boyhood was eminently selfish, cruel, tyrannical, and 
perfidious. Having made several attempts to murder 
his father and seize the throne, he was compelled to flee 
for protection to the court of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, 
where he remained till his father's death in 1461, when 
he succeeded to the crown as Louis XI. 

History presents few such instances of selfishness, 
cruelty, and unprincipled dissimulation as that offered in 
the case of Louis XL of France, whose mean personal 
appearance and physiognomy corresponded so remark- 
ably with his despicable moral qualities as to render him 
a favourite character for the dramatist and novelist. 
Among his eccentricities was included a singular degree 
of superstitious bigotry, which led him to decorate his 



38 FRANCE. 

cap with small figures of saints, to whom he prayed and 
made vows for the success of his schemes, however 
wicked they might be. Yet, if we are to believe the 
accounts of him, Louis XL was not without some points 
to be admired. He had at heart the welfare of France, 
improved the roads and canals, founded universities, 
established several printing-presses, and was a patron of 
learning. It was only unfortunate that he trusted more 
to craftiness than honesty, and never scrupled to commit 
any atrocity to attain his object. 

The odious process of parcelling out a kingdom among 
dukes and counts, who affected sovereignty within their 
petty dominions, had at length become so dangerous to 
the monarchy, that some bold measure was necessary 
for its extirpation. King after king had tried to modify 
the evil, and a few provinces had been annexed to the 
possessions of the crown ; but much more remained to 
be done. Louis XL began operations by strengthening 
the standing army which had been set on foot by his 
father ; and thus fortifying his power, proceeded to adopt 
severe measures against the great feudal lords, who, in 
apprehension of general ruin, formed a league, which 
they called the League of the Public Good, though it 
might, with greater propriety, have been styled the league 
to perpetuate strife and disorder. The league compre- 
hended the dukes of Burgundy, Brittany, Alengon, 
Bourbon, and De Berri (brother of the king) ; the counts 
Dunois, Foix, and Armagnac, and various other barons. 
The Duke of Burgundy's son and successor, Charles the 
Bold, was appointed leader. This formidable combina- 
tion of princes and nobles with their retainers, met the 
royal forces at Montlhery, 27th July 1465. The battle, 
however, was indecisive, and Louis, instead of renewing 



1468.] LOUIS XL 39 

it, resorted to the crafty and perfidious policy of appeas- 
ing discontents in detail, and by throwing the leaguers 
off their guard, contrived finally to gain the mastery. 

His greatest difficulty was with Charles of Burgundy, 
who had succeeded to this magnificent dukedom, com- 
posing a section of the east of France, with Dijon as 
its capital. Although Paris had now been extended to 
both sides of the Seine, and possessed palaces worthy 
of being a royal residence, Louis preferred to reside at 
his castle of Plessis, a capacious fortified stronghold, 
pleasantly situated on a tongue of land formed by the 
junction of the Cher with the Loire, and, from its 
vicinity to Tours, usually called Plessis les Tours. Here, 
protected by his Scots guard, he conceived many of his 
crooked plans, especially that of overreaching the bold 
and irritable Charles of Burgundy, the main particulars 
of which, drawn from the Memoirs of Philippe de 
Comines, the historian of the period, have been fairly 
narrated in the popular tale of Quentin Durward. 

Trusting to his powers of dissimulation, Louis invited 
Charles to a personal conference at Pe'ronne, at a time 
when, through a number of mean agents, he had stirred 
up a revolt in the duke's possessions in Flanders. This 
memorable interview took place in October 1468, when, 
becoming aware of the king's perfidy, the duke made 
him a prisoner, and treated him roughly. Recovering 
his liberty by some concessions, Louis imagined that 
his secrets had been betrayed by his confidential adviser, 
Cardinal Ballue, and in his vengeance he caused this 
unfortunate ecclesiastic to be immured in an iron cage 
in the castle of Loches, in which a person of ordinary 
stature could neither stand up nor lie down at his full 
length. In this horrible- cage, Cardinal Ballue was 



40 FRANCE. 

confined for eleven years, being only liberated during the 
last illness of the king. The iron cages of Loches were 
destroyed in 1789, but the dreary dungeons which had 
been used as living graves for state prisoners before and 
after the reign of Louis XL, still exist, and may be seen 
by tourists. 

By cunning, temporising, and bribery with money and 
promises, Louis contrived to outwit his enemies, including 
the English, who, by the Duke of Burgundy in the reign 
of Edward IV., were inveigled to make an invasion of 
France. The impetuosity of the duke led to his ruin 
and premature death. Levying war against the Swiss, 
he was defeated with great slaughter in two battles — the 
first at Grandson, in March 1476, and the second at 
Morat, 2 2d June in the same year. The bones of the 
Burgundian host being collected into a heap after the 
battle, remained as a memorial of the triumph of liberty 
over attempted oppression for the space of three hundred 
years. To these sad trophies Byron alludes in his 
Childe Harold: 

* There is a spot should not be passed in vain — 
Morat ! the proud, the patriot field ! where man 
May gaze on ghastly trophies of the slain, 
Nor blush for those who conquered on that plain ; 
Here Burgundy bequeathed his tombless host, 
A bony heap through ages to remain, 
Themselves their monument.' 

Since these lines were written, the bones have been 
collected and buried. In Charles's attempt to secure 
Lorraine, he fought the battle of Nancy, where he was 
defeated and slain, 5th January 1477. His daughter 
and heiress was married to Maximilian, emperor of 
Germany. With his life ended the long successful 



1483.] CHARLES VIII. 41 

resistance of a number of the great French vassals to 
the central authority of the monarchy ; Burgundy and 
some other provinces being merged in the crown, or 
only retaining a titular distinction. 

For reasons which could not well be justified, Pope 
Paul II. , in 1469, granted to Louis XI. the title of 
'Most Christian Majesty/ which became hereditary in 
his successors, whom it was also the custom to style 
'The Eldest Son of the Church' — a phrase implying 
that the royal House of France was the oldest Christian 
monarchy. Louis XI. might be congratulated on this 
distinction, and on the success of his multifarious 
schemes; but all did not save him from the remorse 
which, by a just retribution, attends on a course of 
wrong-doing. Oppressed by recollection of his cruelties, 
afraid to die, and apprehensive of assassination, he 
immured himself in an apartment in the castle of Plessis, 
where his miserable existence closed on the 30th 
August 1483. 

Louis XI. was succeeded by his son, Charles VIII., 
one of whose first public acts was to call together the 
States-general, which had met only once during the reign 
of Louis XI. The assemblage took place at Tours in 
1484. Each of the three orders— clergy, nobles, and 
tiers-etat — had its complaints of grievances to be 
redressed, but all were of a frivolous nature in compari- 
son to those of the tiers-etat, or commoners, which gave 
a frightful picture of the state of the country, and the 
sufferings of the peasantry from military oppression and 
taxation. - During the last thirty-four years,' proceeded 
this recapitulation of grievances, ■ the king's troops have 
been continually passing and repassing through France, 
and all in turns, of whatever description — gendarmerie, 



42 FRANCE. 

archers, halberdiers, or pikemen — living on the poor 
people. Though employed to prevent oppression, they 
are themselves the worst of all oppressors. The poor 
peasant must pay for the man who beats him, who^ 
turns him out of his house, who carries off his substance, 
and who compels him to lie on the bare earth. When 
the poor man has with extreme difficulty, and by the 
sale of the coat on his back, managed to pay his taille, 
and is comforting himself with the hope that he may live 
out the year on the little he has left, then comes a new 
troop of soldiers eating and destroying that little ; and 
not satisfied with what . they find in the poor man's cot- 
tage, compelling him with heavy blows to seek in the 
town for wine, white bread, fish, groceries, and other 
luxuries ; so that, if God did not comfort the poor man, 
he would fall into utter despair. In Normandy, a great 
and countless multitude have died of hunger ; others, in 
despair, have killed their wives, their children, and 
themselves. From the want of beasts of labour, men, 
women, and children are compelled to yoke themselves 
to carts ; and others, fearing that if seen in the daytime 
they will be seized for not having paid their taille, are 
compelled to labour during the night. All which things 
being considered, it seemeth to the States-general that 
the king ought to have pity on his poor people, and 
ought to relieve them from the said tallies and charges/ 
This wail of distress was disregarded. 

Charles, who was at this time a youth, feeble in body 
and mind, could not grapple with the disordered state of 
affairs. He married Anne, Duchess of Brittany, by 
whom he had no surviving children to succeed him at 
his death in 1498. His successor was his cousin, Louis 
XI L, who having been married by compulsion to Jane, 



tSi£] FRANCIS /. 43 

daughter of Louis XI., the union was legally dissolved. 
Louis now married Anne of Brittany, widow of Charles 
VIII. , and by her had two daughters. Claude, the 
elder of these princesses, was married to Francis, Count 
of Angouleme, who was presumptive heir to the crown 
in virtue of his descent from the second son of Charles 
V. Anne died in January 1514, whereupon Louis, now 
advanced in life, made a second and ill-assorted marriage 
with Mary, sister of Henry VIIL, a girl sixteen years of 
age. He lived only three months after the marriage, 
and at his decease without direct heirs in 1515, Francis, 
Count of Angouleme, as nearest heir of line, ascended 
the throne, under the title of Francis I. Claude, the 
wife of Francis, having inherited Brittany from her 
mother, gifted that dukedom to her husband, and he 
munificently suppressed the fief, and merged it inalien- 
ably in the crown (1532). Thus was another of the old 
provincial governments happily extinguished. 

The reigns of Charles VIIL and Louis XII. are 
remarkable for French interference in the affairs of Italy. 
A descendant of the Anjou family having bequeathed 
Naples to Charles VIIL, he invaded Italy, and fought 
his way to Naples, whence he drove the reigning mon- 
arch. A combination of princes, including the pope, the 
emperor, and the king of Spain, was formed against 
him, and he was forced to return to France. This 
union has been regarded by historians as the first 
instance of the balance of power in Europe. The claim 
on Naples was revived by Louis XII., who, besides, 
claimed Milan as a descendant of the Visconti family — 
a claim w T hich was repeated by his kinsman, Francis I. 

Handsome in person, and of accomplished manners, 
Francis I. — or Francois Premier, as he is named by the 



44 FRANCE. 

French — was also chivalrous in his ideas, and went to 
battle with all the gaiety that he would have shewn 
at a tournament. He ' won his spurs ' immediately on 
ascending the throne. Setting out to reconquer Milan, 
which had been wrested from his predecessor, he crossed 
the Alps with an army, among whom was the Chevalier 
Bayard, renowned as the knight sans peur et sans reproche. 
By the ability of this eminent commander, Francis 
gained a victory over the Milanese and their Swiss 
allies, at the battle of Marignano, 13th September 15 15 ; 
and in accordance with his chivalrous propensities, as 
well as- elated with success, he accepted from Bayard on 
the field the honour of knighthood. The Swiss, who, 
from their victories over the Duke of Burgundy, had 
become audacious and troublesome, were a foe less to 
be feared than one who now comes on the stage — the 
Emperor of Germany. 

Maximilian, by his marriage with the daughter of 
Charles, Duke of Burgundy, acquired the Netherlands, 
which by marriage and purchase had come into the 
Burgundian family in the fourteenth century. Philip, 
the son of Maximilian, made a still more important 
alliance. He married Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand 
and Isabella of Spain; and his son Charles became heir, 
not only to the Netherlands, but to the kingdom of 
Spain and the Two Sicilies. On the death of Ferdinand, 
his grandfather, in 15 16, he was installed as king of 
Spain ; and afterwards succeeded to all the possessions 
of his other grandfather, Maximilian, at the death of that 
monarch, 15 19. Raised to this high pitch of power, he 
was desirous of being elected Emperor of Germany, a 
distinction for which he had to contend with Francis 
I. Charles being the successful candidate, assumed the 



1525.] BATTLE OF PA VIA. 45 

title of Charles V., by which he is best known in 
history. 

So greatly was the ire of Francis roused by his mortify- 
ing defeat, that he immediately prepared for war, and 
endeavoured to secure the friendly assistance of Henry 
VIIL In one point of view, it was ridiculous for the 
French king to feel offended at the success of his rival ; 
but allowances must be made for his irritation. The 
possessions of Charles environed France on three sides, 
and were deemed a source of national danger ; and we 
are not without instances in recent times of the extreme 
susceptibility of the French, when labouring under appre- 
hensions of this nature. The appeal of France to 
Henry VIII. led to an interview, in 1520, between the 
two monarchs, at a spot near Calais, which, from the 
splendour of the two courts on the occasion, lias been 
called the ' Field of the Cloth of Gold/ 

The interview, with various sports and ceremonies, 
lasted eighteen days, but led to no practical result, not 
even to international amity. Shortly afterwards, Henry 
formed an alliance with Charles V. and the pope against 
Francis. Wars ensued, in which Bayard was slain, 
1524, and Francis suffered humiliating reverses. At 
the battle of Pavia, 24th February 1525, he was taken 
prisoner, and carried by Charles as a captive to Madrid 
— the world witnessing for the first time the sorrowful 
spectacle of a French sovereign, and one of no mean 
importance, rendering himself a prisoner of war to an 
emperor of Germany. It was on the occurrence of this 
humiliating defeat that Francis I. wrote a letter to his 
mother, in which he used the oft-quoted words : ' All is 
lost but honour.' 

The captive king was restored to liberty in 1526, but 



46 FRANCE. 

on conditions which Francis faithlessly, and on various 
pretexts broke, and there were fresh hostilities, chiefly 
concerning Lombardy, the right to which was long a 
fertile source of embroilment between France and the 
House of Austria. 

Though neither sagacious, nor free from many faults 
of character, Francis I. helped to advance the interests 
of his country. He had an ardent love of literature 
and the fine arts, of which he was a munificent patron. 
At the time he flourished — the early part of the sixteenth 
century — western Europe was awakening from the torpor 
of the middle ages. Already, in the Italian republics, 
great progress had been made in literature, painting, 
and architecture. From Italy, Francis invited the most 
eminent artists to his court, under whom sprung up 
in France that revived style of art formed on classic 
models, known as the Renaissance, of which, as regards 
architecture, there were produced some fine examples 
in palaces, churches, and other public buildings, now 
admired for their beauty of design. The Louvre, a 
tasteful palatial structure overlooking the Seine at Paris 
(now transformed into a museum), was one of the build- 
ings with which he embellished the capital. It was 
erected on the site of an old castle, which is occasionally 
mentioned in history. Frangois Premier is accordingly 
looked back to as one of the notables of a past age in 
France; the very fashion of dressing his hair and his 
beard being still occasionally a thing for popular 
imitation. 

The darkest stain on the character of Francis I. was 
his cruelty. Alarmed at the spread of the Reformation 
in Germany and England, he made every effort to arrest 
the movement in France. In 1535, at a fete in Paris, 



' I54I-] THE WALDENSES. 47 

amidst assembled multitudes, he proclaimed his intention 
to extirpate heresy, a sentiment hailed with the admiring 
shouts of the populace. As an evidence of his sincerity, 
six unfortunate individuals, professors of the Reformed 
doctrines, were suspended from a machine, which, by a 
peculiar contrivance, lowered each, for a few minutes 
successively, into a blazing furnace, until, by this slow 
and horrid torture, their quivering bodies were reduced 
to a charred cinder. Fatal lesson in cruelty, which was 
not lost on a people who, at various times, afterwards 
manifested an irresistible pleasure in the spectacle of 
human suffering ! 

The cruelties of Francis I. were shewn on a compre- 
hensive scale in his infamous crusades, in 1541, against 
the Vaudois or Waldenses, a Christian community re- 
siding in the valleys of Piedmont, on the southern 
slopes of the Alps. The Waldenses, who originated in 
the preaching of Peter Waldo in the twelfth century, 
maintained, among other tenets, the right to a free 
reading of the Scriptures. Inoffensive in their conduct, 
the members of this body became the objects of cruel 
maltreatment. Under the orders of Francis I., they 
were massacred in great numbers. The persecution, 
however, failed to extirpate them, and as a religious 
community, they still exist in their Alpine homes, under 
the shelter of modern institutions. In the reign of 
Francis I., the period had fully arrived for introducing 
into France that species of parliamentary legislation 
which was gaining a constitutional form in England 
under the Tudors ; but the opportunity was neglected ; 
and the time which should have been employed in 
effecting social changes of this nature, was spent in 
contests with feudal vassals, in the ignoble work of 



48 FRANCE. 

religious persecution, and in wars which were waste- 
ful of national resources. Nor should we omit to state 
that the frivolities and profligacies of the court of 
Frangois Premier, had that injurious effect on public 
morals which served to perpetuate the rule of a cen- 
tralised despotism. 

The wars in which Charles VII. had been engaged 
in his recovery of France from the English, led to the 
levying of certain taxes, one of which, the taille, as has 
been seen, pressed heavily on the rural population. 
Instead of lessening, Francis I. increased the taxes. An 
impost, which was perhaps more cruel than the taille, 
was the gabelle, a tax on salt, the collection of which was 
intrusted to officials called gabekurs, whose rigorous 
operations led to frequent popular outbreaks. It would 
appear that the imposing of these burdens pressed more 
on the conscience of Francis I. in his dying moments, 
than his cruelties towards the Vaudois and others who 
had ventured to differ from him in religious belief. He 
died 31st March 1547; his last counsel to his son, 
Henry, being to lighten the burden of the taxes, and to 
beware of the ambitious family of Guise. 



CHAPTER VI. 

HENRY II. — FRANCIS II. — CHARLES IX. — HENRY III. 

1547-1589. 

HTHE period of forty-two years, to which we have 
■*- now to call attention, is painfully memorable for 
those revolting, -and, in a political sense, disastrous 
persecutions on account of religion, which, having begun 
in the reign of Francis I., culminated in the massacres 
of St Bartholomew, and the regal assassinations of 
Blois. To understand rightly the course of events 
signalised by these horrors, a few explanations seem 
desirable. 

From the fourth century, when Gaul was occupied 
by the Romans, there had grown up in France a great 
ecclesiastical hierarchy in connection with the Church 
of Rome, which, expanding in dimensions, and enriched 
by endowments, had become the most firmly fixed 
institution in the country. In virtue of a concordat 
between Francis I. and Pope Leo X., the appointment 
to benefices and some other privileges had been con- 
ceded to the crown, and the Gallican church was 
accordingly shorn of some of its original and independ- 
ent action. But, taken under the protection of the 
state, it suffered nothing in things spiritual. Dynasties 
came and went ; laws and fashions altered ; but the 

D 



50 FRANCE. 

church, with its Latin and ceremonious ritual, its 
legends of saints and martyrs, its ramification of arch- 
bishops, bishops, and clergy of lower degree, and its 
varied monastic establishments, remained intact — the 
only human organisation on which a thousand passing 
years made no visible impression. There could not fail 
to be a degree of national pride in owning a thing so 
ancient as to have entitled the king to be addressed as 
* The Eldest Son of the Church ' — the church which had 
been the mother and the protector of civilisation ; the 
only friend of humanity in ages of barbaric passion. 

A fabric so venerated by tradition — so consolidated 
as to seem as enduring as the great works of nature — 
was now destined to be assailed in a manner which was 
thought to be not only unwarrantable but blasphemous. 
The Albigensian heresy had been ostensibly stamped 
out, leaving, however, sentiments which kindled up in 
many parts of France in connection with the preaching 
of the Swiss, German, and English Reformers in the early 
part of the sixteenth century. In the reign of Francis 
I., the Reformed views, which amounted to a protest 
against certain doctrines and ritualistic observances 
of the Gallican church, had greatly spread, and been 
accepted by persons of learning and in authority. 
Alarmed for what might ensue, and violent in his policy, 
Francis, as has been seen, became a cruel persecutor of 
the Waldenses. John Calvin (or Cauvin), a native of 
Picardy, who had studied the Scriptures, and adopted 
the Reformed doctrines, having in 1533 proceeded to 
Paris, which had become a centre of the ' new learning/ 
excited the hostility of the king, and he and others 
labouring in the work of the Reformation had to flee for 
their lives. Considering that these proceedings occurred 



IS47-] HENRY II. 51 

at the very time when Henry VIII. was re-constituting 
the church on a Reformed footing in England, and that 
the persecution initiated by Francis was substantially 
equivalent to the repression of free and enlightened 
inquiry and the exercise of piety, we may date from this 
time the parting of France and England on two different 
paths — France laggingly advancing in its ancient track, 
carrying the seeds of a destructive political convulsion ; 
England going manfully on in a course towards the full 
blaze of civil and religious liberty. 

The son of Francis I., who in 1547 ascended the 
throne under the title "of Henry II., was told by his 
dying father to beware of the Guises. This was a 
family which, for two centuries, played an important 
part in the history of France and Europe, and while 
distinguished by great bravery and commanding talent, 
possessed aspirations that were considered to be dan- 
gerous to the throne. They nevertheless were zealous in 
support of the church, and took an active part in the 
business of persecution. 

The Guises were a branch of the ducal House of 
Lorraine, which, although the dukedom was a fief of 
the German empire, had long stood in intimate relations 
with the court and nobility of France. The founder of 
the family was Claude, a younger son of Rene II., 
Duke of Lorraine, who being naturalised in France 
in 1505, rendered himself conspicuous in the wars of 
Francis I., and was created first Duke of Guise. He 
died in 1550, leaving five daughters and six sons. His 
eldest daughter, Mary, became the wife of James V. of 
Scotland, and mother of Mary Queen of Scots. . The 
sons were all men of extraordinary energy and ambition, 
and their united influence was, for a number of years, 



52 FRANCE. 

more than a match for that of the crown. Francis, 
second Duke of Guise, acquired, while still a young 
man, extraordinary renown as a military commander, 
by carrying out certain ambitious designs of France 
on a neighbouring territory, which we shall endeavour 
to explain. 

As is well known, French statesmen have for many 
centuries cherished the idea that the natural boundary 
of France on the east is the Rhine, from its mouth to 
its source, and thence along the crest of the Alps to 
the Mediterranean. What this fanciful and inveterately 
maintained notion has cost France, will afterwards be 
matter of painful consideration. To begin the realisa- 
tion of the idea, advantage was taken of the war which 
broke out between the Emperor Charles V. and his 
Protestant subjects in North Germany. Although the 
Protestants of France were persecuted to the death, 
Henry II., with furtively ambitious designs, offered to 
defend the Protestants of Germany against their own 
emperor; and entered into an alliance in 1551, with 
Maurice of Saxony and other princes, undertaking to 
send an army to their aid. As bases of his operations, 
it was agreed that he might take temporary military 
possession of Toul, Verdun, and Metz, three bishoprics, 
each with a portion of territory lying within the area 
of the duchy of Lorraine, but held as distinct fiefs of 
the German empire — such, in fact, being fragments 
of Lothair's kingdom, which fell to Germany, and had 
in no shape been incorporated with France. It was 
stipulated that, in occupying these places, the French 
were not to interfere with their old connection with the 
empire. 

The confidence reposed in the French was grievously 



1552.] SEIZURE OF METZ. 53 

abused. All the stipulations went for nothing. In 
1552, French troops took possession of Toul and 
Verdun, also of Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, treating 
the duchy, generally, as a conquered country. Seeing 
this, Metz shut her gates and trusted to her fortifications. 
To procure an entrance and secure possession there was 
a resort to stratagems, which afford a startling illustration 
of the tricks that French nobles at that time could be 
guilty of in order to gain their ends. The French 
commander, the Constable Montmorency, begged to be 
allowed to pass through the town with a few attendants, 
while his army made a wide circuit on its route. The 
too credulous custodiers of the city opened the gates, 
and, to their dismay, the whole French forces rushed in, 
and began to rule in true despotic fashion. Montmor- 
ency, finding himself opposed by a patriotic party among 
the magistrates, got the better of them by an act of 
almost unexampled treachery. Affecting to be very ill, 
he took to his bed, was dying, and invited those magis- 
trates who were obnoxious to him to come to be 
witnesses to his will. Deceived by these false repre- 
sentations, they unfortunately attended the summons. 
When they presented themselves in a spirit of condolence 
at the bed-side of Montmorency, he suddenly sprung 
upon the senior magistrate, and stabbed him with a 
dagger to the heart, while the guard despatched the rest. 
Thus was Metz secured for France in a way which 
modern Frenchmen, we should imagine, can hardly 
think of without shame. Germany, however, did not 
relinquish this important fortress without a struggle. 
Furious at its loss, the Emperor Charles V. proceeded to 
besiege it with a large army. The defence was^ under- 
taken by the Duke of Guise, assisted by a body of 



54 FRANCE. 

French nobility. After an investment of four months, 
and a loss of 30,000 men, Charles was forced to raise the 
siege, January 1, 1553, all his attempts at the capture of 
the place being effectually baffled. Five years later, the 
Duke of Guise gained not less distinction by taking 
Calais from the English. This event took place January 
7, 1558, in the last year of the reign of Mary of England, 
who felt the loss so acutely that it is said to have accel- 
erated her death, which occurred 7th November of the 
same year. She is stated to have said : ' When I am 
dead, Calais will be found written on my heart.' The 
principal church in Calais was built during the occupancy 
of the English. In front of the Hotel de Ville in the 
market-place, is placed, among other busts, that of 
Francis, Duke of Guise, the restorer of Calais to the 
French. By the capture of the town, the English were 
bereaved of the last relic of the Plantagenets in France. 
The seizure of the city and bishopric of Metz, above 
mentioned, together with Toul and Verdun, was the 
first act of a series of aggressions made by France 
upon Germany, with the object of extending her frontier 
to the Rhine. They were renewed from time to time 
during two centuries, and, as will be afterwards described, 
resulted in the acquisition of Alsace and Lorraine. 
They naturally excited great interest at the time, and 
that interest has been recently and so mournfully revived 
as to suggest the reflection of retributive justice. The 
annals of France at this period are a chaos of details 
regarding wars carried on from the greed of conquest. 
Germany and Italy, on one pretence or other, were 
especially selected for attack. The object of Francis I. 
and his immediate successors was obviously to give 
France the preponderance in continental Europe. And 



1 559-1 PEACE WITH GERMANY. 55 

"this they were able to accomplish by the consolidation 
and perpetuity of the monarchy. Against this gradually 
concentrating force, Germany could offer no proper 
opposition. The office of emperor was elective; and 
being competed for, there was for a long time a 
frequent shifting of the central authority from one 
dynasty to another, and a consequent rivalry and 
mutual distrust among the electors. In a word, the 
disintegration of Charlemagne's empire east of the 
Rhine, and the growth of a strong centralised power, 
by the suppression of rebellious feudatories on the 
western side of that river, along with the dismem- 
berment of Italy into petty and easily subdued states, 
are the three simple facts, stripped of bewildering 
technicalities, which explain the rise of France to a 
degree of power which made it a menace, and some- 
times a terror, to surrounding nations. 

Satisfied for the time, and requiring temporary repose, 
France entered into a treaty of peace with Germany in 
1559 — the treaty of Chateau-Cambresis — by which, in 
return for ceding certain conquests, the possession of 
Metz, Toul, and Verdun was confirmed. 

The successful seizure of these portions of Germany, 
and the capture of Calais, were the principal events in the 
reign of Henry II. By a fatality, which fell heavily on 
the country, he had, while dauphin, introduced at court 
the beautiful but dissolute Diana of Poitiers, to whose 
evil influence was conjoined that of his wife, Catharine 
de' Medici, daughter of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, a 
woman of strong will, crafty in her designs, unscrupulous, 
and bigoted. By the marriage there were four sons, 
Francis, Charles, Henry, and a younger who became 
Duke of Alengon, and three daughters, the eldest of 



56 FRANCE. 

whom, Elisabeth, was married to Philip II., king of Spain; 
the second, Claude, was married to the Duke of Lorraine; 
and the youngest, Margaret, ordinarily styled Margaret of 
Valois, became the wife of Henry of Navarre. In 1548, 
Mary Queen of Scots, a girl six years old, was brought 
to the French court for protection and education; and 
it became a matter of state policy, in which Mary's 
uncle, the Duke of Guise, concurred, to have her 
married to Francis, the dauphin. Mary, in effect, was a 
puppet in the hands of the ' queen-mother ' and the 
Guises. Previous to the marriage, she was induced to 
sign a secret treaty, which provided, that if there were 
no children from the union, Scotland should fall to the 
French monarchy. It was a treacherous arrangement, 
which, from circumstances, was fortunately of no avail. 
The marriage was celebrated with great rejoicings,. 24th 
April 1558. 

Charles V., emperor of Germany, the frequent antag- 
onist of France, was now drawing to the close of his 
earthly career. In 1556, he retired to a monastery 
in Spain, in which he died, 21st September 1558. 
Henry II. survived the emperor only ten months. 
He died 10th July 1559, when the dauphin became 
king as Francis II., and Mary was hailed as Queen 
of France and Scotland. The king and queen were 
both young and inexperienced. The real ruler was 
Catharine the queen-mother, and her bigotry found scope 
in attempts to suppress the religious Reformers, whose 
teaching was now carried on openly, and making numer- 
ous converts throughout the country. It is stated, that 
immediately after their marriage, Francis and Mary, by 
way of shewing their sentiments, attended the execution 
of an advocate, who was charged with the crime of having 



15591 FRANCIS II. 57 

defended a person accused of heresy. The spread of 
the Reformed doctrines, despite severities of this kind, 
was much aided by a spirit of political discontent. The 
country was suffering from the impoverishing effects of 
the many wars in which the kings of France had been 
concerned, and offence had been taken at the extra- 
vagance and high-handed proceedings of the court. 
The air, in a sense, was full of disaffection. Political 
animosity was blended with religious dissension. To 
those who professed the Reformed doctrines was given 
the name Huguenots, for what reason has never been 
clearly denned ; among them were many persons of high 
rank, especially Henry of Navarre, the Prince of Conde, 
and Admiral Coligny. On the other side were the 
Duke of Guise and his brother Charles, the cardinal, 
usually styled the Cardinal Lorraine. 

In prosecuting what they deemed a sacred cause, 
the Huguenot leaders, unfortunately, committed acts 
which cannot be morally justified.' They entered into 
a deliberate conspiracy to seize the person of the king 
at the castle of Amboise ; and the plot being discovered, 
their reputation was materially damaged. In the course 
of the vengeful measures which followed the discovery, 
Francis II., who had never enjoyed good health, died 
5th December 1560, when a new turn was given to 
affairs. The Guises were disappointed of seeing their 
niece continue as queen. Mary returned to Scotland to 
follow out her hapless fate. 

By the death of Francis II., his next brother, a boy 
ten years of age, became king with the title of Charles 
IX., and the queen-mother was formally appointed 
regent. The persecution of the Huguenots was now 
carried on with renewed ferocity. Resistance followed, 



58 FRANCE. 

and there was a religious war, which, with intervals of 
peace, lasted for a period of eight years. The struggle 
was disgraced by massacre and assassination, to which 
there has scarcely ever been a parallel. Three men of 
note perished. In 1563, when attempting to reduce 
Orleans, a stronghold of the Protestants, Francis, Duke 
of Guise, was treacherously assassinated by a pistol-shot 
fired by a Huguenot, named Pol trot. In 1567, the 
Constable Montmorency, commander of the royal forces, 
was shot by a Scottish cavalier at the battle of St Denis. 
And in 1569, the Prince of Conde, being taken prisoner 
at the battle of Jarnac, was treacherously assassinated 
by a pistol-shot in the back of the head, while his wounds 
were being dressed. The Duke of Guise left three 
sons — Henry, third Duke of Guise, Charles, Duke of 
Mayenne, and Louis, a cardinal — all of whom were 
concerned in the political movements of this eventful 
period. 

The sympathy of Queen Elizabeth, who was at this 
time on the throne of England, being enlisted in the 
cause of the French Huguenots, ventured on giving 
them some material aid, though it was of no great 
avail. Open war appearing to fail in extinguishing 
the Huguenot party, there was a recourse to stratagem. 
Toleration was conceded for the free exercise of public 
worship by the Reformers \ and, as above mentioned, a 
marriage was effected between Margaret of Valois, sister 
of Charles IX., and Henry, son of the king of Navarre, 
who might prospectively be king of France. As Henry 
had distinguished himself as a commander in the 
Huguenot army, his marriage was viewed as an act of 
conciliation, and celebrated with great pomp, 18th August 
1572. 



1572.] CHARLES IX. 59 

The festivities on the occasion drew a number of noted 
Huguenots to Paris — among others, the Admiral Coligny, 
on whom the king lavished marked attention. The 
object of the queen-mother, as well as her son, appeared 
to be a reconciliation of past feuds; their design, in 
reality, being to throw the whole Huguenot party off 
their guard, and at a given signal murder the whole at a 
single blow. In the account of this dreadful affair, 
drawn from the best authorities, we may go a little into 
detail. 

In the execution of a design so atrocious, Catharine 
was necessarily compelled to intrust the secret to a 
select number of persons who would be likely, through 
persuasion or interest, to further the extirpation of the 
Huguenots. Henry, Duke of Anjou, brother' of the 
king, was gained over, on the plausible ground that the 
Huguenots were preparing to overthrow the govern- 
ment, and ought to be summarily dealt with. The 
time fixed on for the massacre was the eve of the 
feast of St Bartholomew, being that between the 24th 
and 25th August — and hence it has been styled the 
Massacre of St Bartholomew — previous to which a regi- 
ment of Swiss guards was brought into Paris, and various 
other arrangements made. These preparations, which 
could not be concealed, roused a certain degree of 
suspicion that all was not right; but nothing like absolute 
treachery could be detected. To lull any possible 
apprehension, Charles IX., who, like his mother, was a 
proficient in dissimulation, invited Admiral Coligny to 
a conference, and treated him with the greatest deference 
and respect; taking occasion to assure him that the 
entry of the Swiss guards to the capital was to hold the 
Guises and their faction in check, and prevent them 



60 i FRANCE, 

from carrying out any designs against the public 
peace. 

Confiding in these representations, Coligny, whom it 
was arranged to make the first victim, went about as usual. 
On the 2 2d August, as he was passing the church of 
St Germain l'Auxerrois (which faces the eastern front of 
the Louvre), he was struck by two balls shot from a 
window in the ground-floor of a building connected with 
the church; the assassin being a man who had lately 
been condemned to death, but spared for the purpose of 
murdering the admiral. The search made for him in 
and about the church was useless. He had escaped by 
a back-door of egress, and reaching a distant faubourg, 
was sheltered at a place prepared by Henry, Duke of 
Guise. One of the balls had taken effect in the shoul- 
der, and the other had broken a finger. The incident 
caused much commotion. Coligny being carried to his 
hotel, his wounds were dressed by the king's surgeon, the 
celebrated Ambroise Pare, to whom is due the merit of 
introducing the use of ligatures instead of cautery with 
a red-hot iron in the case of amputations. The ball 
having been successfully extracted, the admiral received 
the condolences of his friends, and was even visited by 
Charles IX., who affected the most acute sympathy with 
his misfortunes. On the pretext of guarding him from 
further outrage, but in reality to make sure of their 
victim, the royal conspirators placed a guard of fifty 
soldiers around the hotel. 

On the night of the 24th, the signal to commence the 
slaughter was to be given by the bell of the palace, but 
Catharine, in her impatience, ordered the bell of St 
Germain l'Auxerrois to be sounded; whereupon there 
was a rush of armed men upon all the Huguenots who 



1572.] MASSACRE OF ST BARTHOLOMEW. 61 

happened to be on the adjoining quays. Alarmed by 
the attack, many threw themselves into the Seine, and 
endeavoured by swimming to gain the opposite bank. 
Hurrying to the hotel of Coligny, a band of assassins 
burst in the gates, and forced an entrance to the apart- 
ment of the aged and wounded admiral, who had beside 
him his pastor, Merlin, and some of his officials. To 
these Coligny addressed himself, bidding them save 
themselves, if possible, for they could not protect him, 
and he was ready to die. Some tried to escape by the 
roof, but all perished. By a wretch named Besmes, the 
admiral was slain by the thrust of a sword, and the 
others struck him with their lances. Henry, Duke of 
Guise — a man of a much meaner stamp than his father 
— took an active part in the atrocity. While the 
murder of the admiral was being perpetrated, he 
remained outside in the court-yard, and cried to 
Besmes if the work was finished; in reply, the body 
of the murdered Coligny was thrown out of the 
window, and met with some indignities. The general 
massacre was now at its height. Houses were every- 
where broken open, and their inmates remorselessly 
killed. Charles IX., to shew his zeal, took part in the 
atrocity. Placing himself in a balcony of the Louvre, 
he kept firing on the terrified Huguenots, as if engaged 
in some pleasant kind of sport. There was some diffi- 
culty in dealing with his brother-in-law, Henry of Navarre, 
and the Prince of Conde. These being brought before 
him, were required either at once to attend mass in the 
chapel of the Louvre, or suffer death. To save their 
lives, both chose the first alternative, but were for- some 
time afterwards kept under restriction. 

Space does not allow us to pursue the narrative of 



62 FRANCE. 

that terrible night of murder, pillage, and the basest 
treachery. Neither age nor sex saved the victims of 
Catharine's iniquitous plot. The very floors of the 
Louvre, to which nobles fled for refuge, were stained 
with blood. The massacre did not cease with the 
dawning light of the 25th. It lasted three days, during 
which upwards of four thousand victims were slaughtered 
in Paris. On the 28th, there was a solemn Te Deum at 
Notre Dame, at which the king assisted, to thank God 
for the great victory gained over the heretics. Orders 
went forth to carry on the work of extermination in the 
provinces, and in a short time fifty thousand persons 
perished. Some towns, by the courage and humanity of 
the magistrates, were happily preserved from outrage. 
Such was the Massacre of St Bartholomew, which has 
not been without apologists and attempted refutations. 
The facts which we have moderately stated, remain a 
terrible reproach on the authors of this great iniquity. 

The massacre proved not less a crime than a blunder. 
While it failed to extirpate the Protestants, it led to 
feelings of shame and remorse on the part of many of 
the influential Roman Catholics. Charles was ill at 
ease, and his health was failing. Yet there was no 
relenting in his conduct. The inhabitants of Rochelle 
and Montauban shut their gates, and, successfully holding 
out against the forces that were sent to subdue them, 
were allowed to maintain their freedom of religious 
opinion unchallenged — a triumph causing much vexation 
to the court. Fresh sources of disquietude were in 
store. Henry, Duke of Anjou, was elected king of 
Poland in 1573, and a year later he was recalled to 
France by the death of his brother, Charles IX. Thft 
perfidious monster expired 30th May 1574. Leaving 



1576.] HENRY III. 63 

no male issue, Henry, his brother, became king of 
France, with the title of Henry III. 

Henry had shewn some good qualities as a military 
commander. As a king, he fell short of popular expec- 
tations, for he failed to carry on the persecution of the 
Huguenots with a zeal sufficient to please the Parisian 
populace, whose ferocity was stimulated by the factious 
designs of the Duke of Guise. This personage, from 
a scar in his face which he had received in a skir- 
mish in 1574, was now commonly called Le Balafre. 
He was the restless mischief-maker of the period. 
Claiming to be a descendant of Charlemagne, he aspired 
to be monarch, by getting rid of Henry and his younger 
brother the Duke of Alengon, and setting aside the heir- 
presumptive, Henry of Navarre, on the ground of heresy. 
To effect this treasonous manoeuvre, a League of some 
historic note was promoted. At the outset, the League 
was dexterously circumvented by the king, and by the 
States-general which met at Blois in December 1576. 
Afterwards the confederacy gained strength, and a civil 
war ensued, in which Henry of Navarre, at the head 
of a small Protestant force, achieved a victory over the 
Leaguers, 1587. Next year, there was an uprising in 
Paris to dethrone the king, on the score of being too 
lenient to heretics. Barricades were raised in the 
streets; the armed populace fought against the royal 
and Swiss guards, whom they finally vanquished, and put 
cruelly to death ; the Louvre was assailed ; and to save 
his life the king fled to Rouen. This extraordinary 
battle in the streets of Paris, the forerunner of many 
similar commotions, took place 12th May 1588. 

Though now master of the situation, the Duke of 
Guise had not the fortitude to prosecute the rebellion, 



64 - FRANCE, 

and made overtures for a compromise. He suggested 
that he should be appointed lieutenant-general of the 
kingdom ; and that, to settle differences, a meeting 
of the States-general should be assembled. Henry- 
agreeing to this arrangement, the scene shifts to Blois, 
a town picturesquely situated on the right bank of the 
Loire, with a royal castle, part of which, in the style of 
the Renaissance, had been built by Francis I. Here 
the States-general met on the 16th October 1588. 
The king was there with his council, and the Duke 
of Guise attended officially as grand -master of the 
household. In the breast of the king there was a resolu- 
tion to kill the duke, who certainly merited death for 
his crimes, but not by the base method of assassina- 
tion. The dissimulation which could clothe the most 
murderous intentions in outward politeness, was not 
more vividly exemplified by Louis XL than it now was 
in the case of Henry III. in the castle of Blois. In that 
grand old edifice (which has been latterly devoted to 
the purposes of a military barrack) are still shewn the 
apartments in which the different circumstances in the 
regal tragedy were enacted. One room, called the king's 
cabinet, is pointed out where Henry III. distributed 
daggers to five-and-forty assassins with instructions to 
stab Le Balafre when, by invitation, he entered the 
apartment. On the 23d December, the duke, being 
summoned by a page to wait on the king, proceeded to 
the royal cabinet, and, while turning aside the tapestry 
which hung over the door of the ante-chamber, he was 
struck down by the blows of the assassins, and with forty- 
wounds on his person immediately died on the floor. 

There is often something dramatic in the outrages of 
the French. The body of the Duke of Guise was 



1589.] HENRY III. 65 

suffered to lie on the spot where it fell for two days, 
with a cross of straw placed upon it, as if to give the 
murder a sort of religious sanction. And it is said that 
the king, in passing the ' corpse, kicked the face with his 
foot, uttering at the same time a coarse jest on its 
appearance. On the day after the murder, the king 
caused Louis, the Cardinal of Guise, brother of the 
duke, to be assassinated in another part of the palace. 
The bodies of both were burned, and their ashes 
scattered to the winds. In the midst of the confusion 
and strife of parties caused by these crimes, Catharine 
de' Medici, the queen-mother, died at Blois, unheeded 
and unlamented, 5th January 1589. A memorial of 
her superstition is still pointed out. It is a spot on 
the top of one of the towers of the castle, where, with 
astrologers, she consulted the stars concerning the prob- 
able success of her schemes of ambition, treachery, and 
bloodshed. 

Henry III. did no good after the tragedies of Blois. 
The Duke of Mayenne, brother of the deceased Duke 
of Guise, put himself at the head of the League. The 
Parisians were frantic for revenge. In his extremity, 
the king entered into a treaty with Henry of Navarre to 
withstand the forces of the League, and at the head of 
a united body of Protestants and Catholics he marched 
towards Paris, with a view of investing it, and took up 
his residence at St Cloud, whence fate destined he 
should never remove. Besides a brother, the Duke of 
Guise left a sister, the Duchess of Montpensier, who 
secretly vowed vengeance against the king, and employed 
a monk named Clement to execute her diabolical pur- 
pose. Furnished with letters to the king, he visited St 
Cloud. Gaining access to the royal presence, he knelt 

E 



66 FRANCE. 

to present his credentials, and Henry, stooping to 
receive them, was stabbed with a poisoned knife in the 
lower part of the body. The assassin was immediately 
slain by the attendants ; but by the public he was glori- 
fied as a saint and a martyr. The wound inflicted on 
the king was mortal. He died 2d August 1589; and 
as his younger brother had died previously (1584), the 
House of Valois was extinct. 

The massacres and assassinations which disfigured 
the reign of the last three sovereigns of the House of 
Valois, and of which we have presented but an imperfect 
account, must be pronounced to have been altogether 
unique in horror and treachery. The assassinations 
take place in a connected series ; the assassin, generally, 
being in his turn assassinated. Important services to 
the state do not stay the hand of the murderer. The 
Constable Montmorency stabs a poor confiding burgo- 
master, whose official associates are at the same time 
mercilessly slaughtered. Montmorency is, some years 
later, shot down like a dog. Francis, Duke of Guise, 
the deliverer of Calais, is assassinated by the pistol-shot 
of a fanatic. The Prince of Conde, on being taken a 
prisoner of war, is assassinated by a shot in the back 
of the head while he is helpless and getting his wounds 
dressed. Henry, Duke of Guise, assists at the murder 
of Coligny, and is himself assassinated by the daggers 
of Henry III., who takes the opportunity of also 
murdering the Duke's brother. It is Henry's turn next. 
He is assassinated by Clement, a monk, acting under 
the orders of the Duke of Guise's sister ; and Clement, 
who is instantly slaughtered, is commemorated as one 
who has done God service. 



CHAPTER VII. 

HENRY IV. 1589-1610. 

HPHE religious war which distracted France at the 
-*■ close of the life of Henry III., was continued after 
his death with a bitterness aggravated by views of an 
ambitious nature. There was a contest for the crown. 
In the desperate struggle there could be no doubt who 
had the rightful legal claim to the inheritance. It was 
Henry of Navarre, but in general estimation he was a 
heretic, and other, though imperfect, claims were put 
forward. The real issue in dispute was whether France 
should have a Roman Catholic or a Protestant king. 
As this was a turning-point in the history of the country, 
we may give some account of Henry, the central and 
conspicuous figure in the narrative. 

Louis IX. — Saint Louis — as has been stated, had a 
younger son, Robert, Count of Clermont and Lord of 
Bourbon, the ancestor of the various branches of the 
Bourbons. In the early part of the sixteenth century, 
the main stem w r as represented by Anthony of Bourbon, 
Duke of Vendome. He had several brothers, one of 
whom was Charles, Cardinal Bourbon; another was 
Louis, Prince of Conde — he who was treacherously 
killed at the battle of Jarnac — the first of a series of 
nobles with the same title, and to which line belonged 



68 FRANCE. 

the unfortunate Duke d'Enghien. Anthony of Bourbon 
was not remarkable either for wealth or steadiness of 
principle. He embraced the doctrines of the Reformers, 
but was quite willing to repudiate them, and actually did 
so, in the hope of being raised to the throne of France. 
He was not fated to reach this distinction. When in 
his Protestant mood, and far from affluent, he made a 
convenient marriage, 1548, with Jane d'Albret, daughter 
of Henry d'Albret, king of Navarre, and his wife, 
Margaret of Angouleme, sister of Francis I. — the whole 
a Protestant family, chiefly from the predilections of, 
Margaret, one of the high-souled women of the age. 

Navarre had at one time been a kingdom of some 
importance, but at this period it was shrunk to limited 
dimensions, in consequence of the greater part having 
been appropriated by Spain. All that was left of it was 
a small stretch of country on the north side of the 
Pyrenees. It was, however, still an independent sove- 
reignty. By intermarriage with the counts of Foix, the 
Pyrenean province of Beam, with Pau as its capital, 
was happily annexed to it, and, thus enlarged, Navarre 
(to which no Salic law applied) formed a dowry for 
Jane d'Albret, sufficient to attract the representative of 
the illustrious House of Bourbon. From her mother, 
Jane inherited a masculine intrepidity, and attachment 
to the Protestant faith. At her father's court in the 
castle of Nerac, she had conversed with Calvin, Beza, 
and other Reformers, who here at times found a refuge 
from persecution, and held learned disquisitions on 
points of theology. Margaret of Angouleme survived 
the marriage of her daughter only a year. At her death, 
Jane was left to do the honours of the court, and it was 
while doing so, and residing at Pau, that she gave birth 



1572.] HENRY OF NAVARRE. 69 

to a prince, Henry, 13th December 1553 — the Henry of 
Navarre who had so narrowly escaped the massacre of 
St Bartholomew with his cousin the Prince of Conde, 
and who, at the extinction of the House of Valois, 
became competitor for the crown. 

The birth was a great gratification to Henry d'Albret, 
the old king of Navarre. Historians mention that he 
made his daughter promise to sing a song to him while 
she was in labour, in order that by her courage she 
might have a child who would neither weep nor make 
wry faces; though, if such promise was exacted, the 
intention probably was, that Jane might have her mind 
diverted from herself at a trying moment The promise 
is said to have been kept. The princess sang a song 
in her own Bearnois dialect, and the child came into 
the world without crying. The young prince was 
brought up with homely fare, and the rough exercises of 
a mountaineer, by which he acquired a robust consti- 
tution and manliness of bearing. On the death of 
Henry d'Albret, in 1555, his daughter became queen of 
Navarre, and the title of king was assumed by her 
husband, Anthony of Bourbon, who held it till his 
death in 1562. Queen Jane lived ten years longer, 
occasionally frequenting the court of France. She died 
in 1572, the year of the massacre, when young Henry 
of Navarre inherited the family honours. 

Henry, as we have seen, was married the same year, 
to Margaret of Valois, youngest daughter of Henry II., 
who, recognising him as heir-presumptive to the crown, 
had indiscreetly brought about the match while the 
Prince of Navarre was a boy and could not properly 
answer for his feelings. It proved an unhappy union, 
and was ultimately dissolved on account of Margaret's 



70 FRANCE. 

profligacy of character, though Henry's conduct was 
anything but blameless. Seldom has a claim to a throne 
been traced from so distant an ancestor as in the case 
of Henry of Navarre. His relationship to Henry III. 
was only in the twenty-first degree, and he was nine 
removes from Saint Louis. His marriage with a sister 
of the deceased king does not appear to have strength- 
ened his claim. He stood upon his rights under the 
Salic law, which alike excluded Margaret and Claude, 
and their elder sister Elisabeth. 

Henry's claim, however, was challenged by two 
powerful competitors, on the plea of setting aside a 
heretic, and each was supported by a faction. There 
ensued, therefore, a war of succession, in which three 
parties were concerned. The most formidable of Henry's 
antagonists was the League, headed by the Duke of 
Mayenne, who, pursuing his own visionary aspirations, 
attempted to place on the throne the aged Cardinal 
Bourbon. Now appeared on the scene — first on behalf 
of the League, and then for a selfish purpose of his own 
—Philip II. of Spain, whose forces were commanded by 
the Duke of Parma. Philip's right to interfere was as 
flimsy as that of the Guises. He had married Elisabeth, 
the elder daughter of Henry II., and, in defiance of 
the Salic law, he put her forward as rightful heir to the 
throne. Since the death of his father, the Emperor 
Charles V., Philip was the most powerful monarch in 
Europe, besides being the most able and unscrupulous. 
His religious bigotry knowing no bounds, he considered 
the present a favourable opportunity for extirpating the 
Huguenots root and branch in France, and at the same 
time advancing the interest of his own family. 

Henry's adherents were principally the moderate 



1590.] HENRY OF NAVARRE. 7* 

Catholics, along with the Huguenots. With this mixed 
but energetic force, he fought the famed battle of Ivry, 
1590, and gained a complete victory, much to the joy 
of Rochelle and other strongholds of Protestantism. 
Lord Macaulay has made the victory over the forces of 
the League at Ivry the theme of an impassioned ode, 
which commences with the lines : 

■ Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are ! 
And glory to our sovereign liege, King Henry of Navarre ! 
Now let there be the merry sound of music and of dance, 
Through thy corn-fields green, and sunny vines, O pleasant land 

of France ! 
And thou, Rochelle, our own Rochelle, proud city of the waters, 
Again let rapture light the eyes of all thy mourning daughters. 
As thou wert constant in our ills, be joyous in our joy, 
For cold, and stiff, and still are they who wrought thy walls annoy. 
Hurrah ! hurrah ! a single field hath turned the chance of war ; 
Hurrah ! hurrah ! for Ivry, and Henry of Navarre.' 

After the battle of Ivry, Henry marched to and 
besieged Paris, which, being walled and resolute, 
suffered a protracted investment rather than capitulate. 
The only expectation of subduing it was by famine; 
the inhabitants, however, gave an example of that 
indomitable spirit of endurance for which they have 
been latterly distinguished. Such was their extremity, 
that they were reduced to the necessity of eating the 
most loathsome food, even the flesh of human beings. 
To relieve the pressure on their resources as far as pos- 
sible, the besieged drove forth all that they considered 
6 useless mouths,' and Henry, with becoming humanity, 
allowed the poor people to pass. Paris was rewarded 
for its heroism. Henry was forced to raise the siege, in 
consequence of having to encounter the forces of the 



72 FRANCE. 

Duke of Parma. He fought battles in various places, 
but his cause for a time seemed almost hopeless. 

In the course of the struggle, the Cardinal Bourbon 
died ; so did Elisabeth, but as she left a daughter whom 
Philip put forward in her stead, matters were not 
greatly mended. To bring the contest to a crisis, the 
Duke of Mayenne procured a meeting of the States- 
general, for the purpose of electing a king. The 
decision which this body came to was, that a Protestant 
was inadmissible, and that Philip's daughter had the 
best claim. From this decision there was an appeal to 
the Parliament of Paris, as supreme judicial tribunal, 
and its decree was, that the Salic law was part of the 
fundamental constitution of the kingdom, and could on 
no account be set aside. This was equivalent to pro- 
nouncing in favour of Henry, some of whose friends 
now perceived there was only one thing for him to do — 
to declare his adhesion to the Roman Catholic Apostolic 
Church. 

In the conjuncture to which Henry of Navarre was 
now brought, he relied on the advice of his minister 
and friend, Maximilien Bethune, Baron de Rosny, who, 
under the title of Duke of Sully, has been rendered 
memorable by his Memoirs of this period in French 
history. The Bethunes were an old family in France, 
connected by intermarriage with some of the sovereign 
houses of Europe ; and from a branch which proceeded 
to Scotland sprang Cardinal Bethune or Beaton, of 
unfortunate notoriety connected with the Reformation 
in that country. Maximilien de Bethune was born in 
1560, and at an early age attached himself so closely to 
Henry of Navarre, that throughout life the two, by 
mutual regard, were inseparable. A community of 



1598.] EDICT OF NANTES. 73 

religious belief led to this degree of friendship. De 
Rosny was a Huguenot, and as such he lived and died. 
Although nothing would make him swerve from his 
adherence to the doctrines of the Reformers, he did not 
scruple to recommend Henry to sink his religious con- 
victions, and to go over to the Roman Catholic Church, 
so as to become king, and thereby put an end to a 
desolating civil war. Henry hesitated, but agreed. He 
publicly abjured Protestantism; there was a general 
satisfaction, Spain only for a time holding out; and, 
under the title of Henry IV., he entered Paris amidst 
the rejoicings of the citizens, 2 2d March 1594. 

The apostasy of Henry, at the sacrifice of cherished 
convictions, does not on moral grounds admit of extenu- 
ation. Probably, he appeased the upbraidings of con- 
science with the expectation that, besides stopping the 
civil war, he would, as king, possess opportunities of 
protecting the religious body which, for political reasons, 
he had at a critical moment somewhat ungraciously 
deserted. The war, unfortunately, was not stopped. 
It: was carried on by the Spaniards, who, in 1596, 
captured Calais, and made themselves masters of several 
other places in Picardy. Henry's adhesion to the 
Roman Catholic Church was a shock to Queen Elizabeth, 
and to Protestants generally in England and Germany ; 
for at this time the Reformation was still on its trial, 
and the loss of France was discouraging. 

Henry did his best in the very awkward circum- 
stances in which he had placed himself. On the 15th 
April 1598, he signed a memorable Edict at Nantes, 
which, with certain limitations, secured to Protestants 
liberty of conscience, and the administration of impartial 
justice. Among its more important provisions were : 



74 FRANCE, 

Liberty to celebrate worship wherever Protestant com- 
munities already existed ; all superior lords were privi- 
leged to hold meetings for public worship in their 
chateaux; every private gentleman might receive as 
many as thirty visitors at domestic worship ; liberty 
was granted to establish new churches, except in 
Paris and the surrounding district, and in the royal 
residences; and to maintain universities or theological 
colleges, of which they had four — those at Mont- 
auban, Saumur, Montpellier, and Sedan ; adherents of 
the Reformed faith were also to be eligible to all civil 
offices and dignities ; they were to be allowed to hold 
Rochelle, and some other fortified places, as a security 
that their privileges would not be encroached upon; 
they were, however, not to print books on the tenets of 
their religion, except in those places where it existed; 
and they were obliged to outwardly celebrate the festivals 
of the Catholic church, and to pay tithes to the Catholic 
priesthood. This was certainly an imperfect act of 
toleration ; but it was very acceptable to the Huguenots, 
who already counted 760 churches. 

In the same year, by the treaty of Vervins, Henry 
IV. concluded a peace with Spain, which restored to 
France many places in Picardy, including Calais, which 
had been two years in possession of the Spaniards. He 
was now left at liberty to direct his attention to the 
internal improvements of the kingdom, which had been 
thoroughly disorganised through the long continuance 
of civil war. The narrow-minded policy that had been 
followed during the preceding reigns, had left the pro- 
vinces, remote from the capital, very much at the mercy 
of the civic governors and large landed proprietors, who, 
in the absence of a general administrative vigilance, 



1598.] HENRY IV. 75 

arrogated almost sovereign power to themselves, raising 
taxes, and exacting compulsory services. These abuses 
he completely stopped; and by making canals and 
roads, and thus opening all parts of his kingdom to 
traffic and commerce, he 'established new sources of 
wealth and prosperity for all classes of his subjects. 

In carrying out these and other reforms, Henry was 
greatly assisted by Baron de Rosny, who, though austere 
and haughty in manner, was resolute, active, indefat- 
igable, and encountered with firmness the clamour and 
hatred of those who had largely profited by the former 
state of chaos. As regards Henry's private character, 
there were some unpleasant blemishes, the most con- 
spicuous, perhaps, being his intimacy with the accom- 
plished Gabrielle d'Estrees, who exerted an influence 
at court analogous to that which had been exercised by 
Diana of Poitiers in the reign of Henry II. The fair 
Gabrielle, however, had the tact to support De Rosny 
in his wise schemes of financial reform, and to silence 
the objections of the courtiers. 

The measures promoted by Henry IV, and his minister 
afford, on a broad scale, the first glimpse of common 
sense in the conduct of public affairs in France. Armed 
with absolute authority, De Rosny made a tour through 
the country, everywhere examining accounts, rectifying 
abuses, dismissing or suspending delinquents, and largely 
replenishing the treasury with the ill-gotten wealth he 
compelled them to disgorge. By his enlightened views 
of finance, he raised the disposable revenue of the state 
three-fold, while the pressure of taxation was equalised ; 
at the same time reducing the national debt . from 
three hundred millions to fifty millions of livres. Under 
his management, France began to have a fleet and 



76 FRANCE. 

arsenals ; agriculture was improved ; manufacturing 
industry was developed ; and the condition of the 
peasantry, hitherto treated with indifference, was now 
considerably meliorated. These reforms provoked much 
ill-will and opposition, but De Rosny persevered in his 
patriotic course of national advancement. 

The accession of Henry IV. opened a new era on 
Paris, which was now repaired and beautified after 
repeated sieges. The population at this time is said to 
have been about 230,000. Considerable additions were 
made to the royal residence. Catharine de' Medici had 
begun the palace of the Tuileries in 1564 ; but the work 
was prematurely abandoned, and it was continued by 
Henry IV. and his two immediate successors. Henry 
erected the gallery along the quay to connect the 
Tuileries with the Louvre, which long continued to be 
the official home of royalty, though not enlarged to its 
present extent. The Pont Neuf, the most famous of the 
old bridges across the Seine, was founded by Henry III. 
in 1578, and finished by Henry IV. in 1604. By Philippe 
Augustus, Paris, then a small city, was environed by 
walls with lofty towers for defence. Confined to the 
limited space within the walls, the houses were built 
closely together, and of a great height. At length, in 
the reign of Charles V., a new wall, including a wide 
space outside, was erected, with a strong fortified keep 
or Bastille on the east, which ultimately became a state 
prison. In the early part of the fifteenth century, Paris 
was held for seven years by an English garrison. Again 
there were extensions of the enceinte, or outer protecting 
wall; the old walls being at the same time removed, their 
level site formed in some places an open thoroughfare 
called a boulevard, from having been originally a bulwark. 



1589.] HENRY IV. \ 77 

The increase of Paris was not less due to the attrac- 
tions of the court than to the jnfluence of its university 
and the Sorbonne, which drew learned men and scholars 
from all the nations of Europe. Before the reign of 
Henry IV., the French language had attained to the 
precision, and nearly to the polish, which it now pos- 
sesses; and though far from being so copious as the 
German or the English, it was employed Hvith great 
success in the rising literature of the country. French 
literature issuing from the presses of Paris had acquired 
renown through the works of several noted authors; 
beginning with Froissart, a writer on feats of arms 
in the 14th century ; Monstrelet, a writer on the 
same subject, and Masselin, a political annalist in 
the 15 th century — followed in the 16 th century by 
Rabelais, a keen satirist and humorist ; Ronsard, a 
lyrical poet, who had accompanied Mary of Lorraine 
and her husband, James V., to Scotland, and to whom 
their ill-fated daughter, Mary Stuart, sent a gift from her 
prison, addressing him as 'Apollo, the source of the 
Muses;' Amyot, an esteemed translator of Greek classics; 
and Montaigne, celebrated for his masterly philosophic 
essays. 

In Henry IV. were united the sovereignties of France 
and Navarre, and they so remained with his successors 
till the Revolution. Beam was also incorporated with 
the crown. As the first king of the House of Bourbon, 
Henri Quatre, as the French call him, imparted a 
certain vigour to the monarchy, which had for some 
time been in the hands of schemers and imbeciles. 
Looking to the success of his administrative reforms, 
and to the pacification of religious discord by his Edict 
of Nantes, it seems matter for regret that, assisted by 



78 FRANCE. 

the counsels of De Rosny, he did not go a step farther, 
and establish constitutional freedom. Had his life been 
spared, he might possibly have attempted a measure of 
that nature. For any apparent shortcoming in this 
respect, there were extenuations. The nobles were 
powerful and factious; the clergy jealous and bigoted; 
and the populace ignorant. Before establishing a free 
government, he would have required to reform the 
church; but for this he had not the power, nor had 
the people the will. Protestantism was barely tolerated, 
and at best precarious. It was embraced only by the 
more thoughtful and intelligent, and chiefly among an 
independent class of tradesmen, artisans, and residents 
in Beam, Navarre, and some other places in the south. 
Even if allowed the fullest scope, it is doubtful if it 
would have greatly spread, unless the plain and unim- 
pressive forms of public worship introduced by the 
French Reformers had been modified to meet the craving 
of the people for pictorial effect. Such an alteration 
might possibly, in time, have been effected. 

The marriage of Henry with Margaret of Valois was 
the great misfortune of his life, and goes far to account 
for his domestic irregularities. At length, he got rid of 
this embarrassing yoke by a divorce in 1599. He now 
proposed to marry the fair Gabrielle, but this, for reasons 
of state, he suffered himself to be persuaded against by 
De Rosny, and soon after she died. In 1600, he 
espoused Mary de* Medici, niece of the Grand-duke of 
Tuscany. 

This was not a particularly suitable marriage, but as 
there were several children, to whom Henry shewed 
much affection, all fears of a disputed succession were 
allayed. A story is told of his having on one occasion 



1 6 io.] HENRY IV. 79 

been visited by a Spanish ambassador, when romping 
with his children in the private chamber of the queen ; 
creeping on his hands and knees, his eldest son, Louis, 
was riding on his back, and his youngest child, Henrietta 
Maria, who was afterwards married to Charles I. of 
England, was joyously tottering by his side. Henry 
having asked his visitor if he was a father^ and being 
assured that he was, continued the play. If there be 
any truth in the story, there is reason to think that 
Henry possessed qualities which ought to have insured 
him a better fate. In 1606, he created the Baron de 
Rosny a peer of France, and Duke of Sully. 

Passing over a few uneventful years, in which Henry 
was making preparations to enter on a defensive war 
against Austria, we come to the tragical circumstance by 
which his useful life was abruptly terminated. A man 
named Ravaillac, labouring under the hallucination that 
Henry IV. was about to wage war against the pope, 
resolved to assassinate him. Providing himself with a 
double-edged knife, he eagerly watched for an oppor- 
tunity to commit this atrocity. On the 14th May 16 10, 
as the king was passing in his coach — a vehicle open at 
the sides — through a narrow street in Paris, Ravaillac 
got upon the right hinder wheel at the moment the 
carriage was hindered from advancing by a heavy wagon 
in front of it, and, leaning forward, he plunged his knife 
into the breast of the king. The first blow glanced 
aside, but at the second thrust the knife entered the 
heart Death was instantaneous. The murderer escaped 
in the confusion, but being soon captured with the knife 
still in his hand, he admitted his guilt ; and having been 
formally tried and condemned, he was put to the torture, 
and suffered death on 27th May in the Place de Greve, 



80 FRANCE. 

under circumstances of great cruelty, his body being 
torn asunder by horses. From the fullest examination 
of particulars, the conclusion come to is, that the culprit 
had no accomplices, and the real cause of his crime was 
fanaticism, degenerated into monomania. 

The murder of Henri Quatre caused profound grief 
to the Parisians, who commemorated him as the i Great ■ 
and the 'Good.' Eulogies were pronounced on his 
merits, and statues were erected to his memory. Sully 
was inconsolable, and France felt that it had lost the 
best of kings. A song, Vive Henri Quatre, set to an 
air of which he is said to have been fond, is still 
conspicuous in the popular anthology of France. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LOUIS XIII.— 1610-1643. 

A T the death of Henry IV. in 16 10, his eldest son, 
"*** a boy nine years of age, became king, with the 
style of Louis XIII. ; and his mother, the queen- 
dowager, Mary de' Medici, became regent during his 
minority. Mary was a weak-minded woman, wholly 
without self-reliance ; she ruled by the advice of para- 
sites, and to gain their support bribed them with money, 
places about court, and appointments to the govern- 
ment of towns and fortresses. Soon all the money that 
by previous good management had accumulated in the 
treasury was dispersed, in a wholesale system of demor- 
alisation. As proceedings of this kind would have 
been repugnant to Sully, he was civilly dismissed with a 
present of 300,000 livres, in acknowledgment of his 
services. Retiring from the court, he occupied himself 
in writing his Memoirs, and died at his chateau of 
Villebon, near Chartres, in 1641. 

The queen's chief confidant and director was the wife 
of an Italian who had come with her to France, named 
Concini; and, influenced by her, she created Concini 
Marquis d'Ancre, and raised him to be Marshal of France. 
The native nobles were so enraged, that, to avoid an 
insurrection, and to adjust matters, Mary had her son 

F 



82 FRANCE. 

declared to be of age, and he, a boy only thirteen years 
old, was made to summon a meeting of the States- 
general. This body assembled at Paris in October 
1 6 14. Each of the three orders was loud in relating 
the grievances which ought to be redressed. The tiers- 
etat, in particular, was bitter on the subject of court 
pensions, taxes, feudal oppressions, and the excessive 
power of the church. At this memorable assembly, there 
was heard for the first time the voice of a young 
ecclesiastic, Richelieu, bishop of Lugon, who shortly 
afterwards rose to the head of affairs. Some reforms 
founded on public complaint were projected, but they 
evaporated in declamation. Such were the dissensions 
between the different orders, that the assembly was 
hurriedly dissolved, after having sat four months. 

The States-general, which was dissolved on the 23d 
February 16 15, did not again meet for the space of a 
hundred and seventy-four years, during which affairs 
were conducted in an arbitrary manner by the king and 
his council of state. To avoid the necessity of calling 
together the States-general, the sovereigns of the House 
of Valois introduced the expedient of calling in their 
stead, Assemblies of the Notables, consisting of princes 
of the blood, and certain peers, archbishops, councillors 
of state, marshals, and judges — the time of calling, and 
the composition of such assemblies, being entirely de- 
pendent on the pleasure of the crown, by which also 
their whole proceedings were guided, so that they 
generally consented to whatever was proposed to them. 
Called together in 1626, no other Assembly of the 
Notables took place until 1787. 

As if to give a colour of constitutional forms, the French 
kings were under a real or supposed obligation to get 



1615.] LOUIS XIII. 83 

their ordinances imposing taxes registered by the Parlia- 
ment of Paris. In general, the obligation was illusory. 
When the Parliament refused their assent to register, the 
king could attend in person and command the regis- 
tration to be made. On such occasions he sat in a 
canopied chair, and was said to hold a bed of justice (lit 
de justice). There were instances of kings not taking 
this trouble, but of tyrannically banishing and overawing 
the Parliament ; while, on the other hand, in the case of 
a weak or unpopular monarch, the Parliament assumed 
a domineering authority. 

The Parliament of Paris was neither a representative 
nor a legislative body. The nearest idea to be obtained 
of its character is, that it was an anomalous union of a 
Star Chamber, a bench of magistrates, and a supreme 
court of justice. It also claimed the position of 
father or guardian of the state, with a right to interfere 
in particular emergencies for the welfare of the com- 
munity. The members, some of whom were priests, 
nobles, and lawyers, were variously appointed. Latterly, 
they bought their places for life ; and an English histo- 
rian (Alison) extols this as preferable on the score of 
independence. 

By way of settling foreign as well as other differences, 
Louis was married to Anna Maria, usually styled Anne 
of Austria, eldest daughter of Philip III., king of Spain ; 
Anna Maria and Louis renouncing all claim for them- 
selves or descendants on the Spanish crown. The 
marriage took place 16 15. At the same time, Louis's 
sister Elizabeth was affianced to Philip's son. Mean- 
while, there arose a League among the nobility to oppose 
the court. At the head of it was Henry, Prince of Conde 
(grandson of the Conde killed at Jarnac). He Jiad 



84 FRANCE. 

begun life as a Huguenot, but was now a zealous Catholic, 
and presumed on the circumstance of being nearest rela- 
tive to the king. There was for a time a petty rebellion, 
one of the objects of which was to get rid of Concini. 
The end was gained in a manner not unusual in these 
times. The king, to whom he had made himself hateful 
by his overbearing assumption, was persuaded to have 
him arrested. On Concini entering the Louvre, his 
arrestment in the name of the king was announced to 
him; at the same moment a band of nobles fell upon him 
with pistols and swords, and laid him dead on the pave- 
ment (1617). Not to do things by halves, Cqncini's 
wife was accused of having obtained control over the 
mind of Mary de' Medici by means of magical incanta- 
tions, and being found guilty, was first beheaded, and 
then burned to ashes as a sorceress. 

The assassination of Concini, and the judicial murder 
of his wife, did not settle matters. For two years there 
was a confused civil war, ( in which nobles, Huguenots, 
Conde, and a court favourite, named De Luynes, were 
engaged. In these dissensions, there was a general 
concurrence in trying to root out the Huguenots. Un- 
fortunately, these were not blameless. In maintaining 
their religious immunities, they kept up fortresses, em- 
ployed soldiers, called together political assemblies; 
and, proclaiming republican doctrines, assumed an atti- 
tude which was considered dangerous to the state. 
Their leader was the Duke de Rohan, son-in-law of Sully, 
a brave and sagacious general, who had the ability to 
defeat the royal forces at the siege of Montauban (1622), 
when, De Luynes being killed, there was for the present 
an end of the matter. 

Louis XIII. inherited good abilities, but he was fond 



1624.] RICHELIEU. 85 

of ease, and unable to govern without the aid of a strong- 
minded minister. By a happy accident, such a minister 
was found in Richelieu, who had been created a cardinal 
in 1622, and was installed as minister of state in 1624. 
Richelieu, whom we now introduce, was one of the great 
men of the seventeenth century — learned, resolute, wily, 
of comprehensive genius, unscrupulous, but not without 
magnanimity. The French admire dash, and worship 
success. Richelieu commanded admiration by conclud- 
ing, in 1624, a marriage between Henrietta Maria, sister 
of the king, and the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles 
I. He was successful in checking Austria by a rapid 
military movement. Against all expectation, he reduced 
Rochelle, after a siege of thirteen months, 1628; but 
only when the inhabitants were forced to yield by 
famine. The English attempted to send them succour, 
but their ships were prevented from landing stores, by 
a mole which Richelieu caused to be built across the 
harbour. The other Huguenot strongholds were im- 
mediately yielded up. Richelieu, however, generously 
continued to the Huguenots the freedom of their 
religious worship. 

By a court intrigue, Richelieu was temporarily deposed 
from power in 1630; but, being reinstated, from this 
time his supremacy was irrevocably established. His 
administration forms an epoch in the history of the 
constitution of the kingdom, and of its relations with 
other countries. It is memorable for a series of great 
measures, through which the posture of affairs under- 
went a complete and permanent change. Of these, 
the first, and most lasting in its results, was that by 
which the absolute authority of the sovereign was estab- 
lished. As will have been observed in our previous 



86 FRANCE. 

narrative, the power of the French kings had been greatly 
controlled, and in many cases over-ridden by the feudal 
privileges of the nobles. On some occasions the power 
of the crown had been reduced to a cipher. Richelieu, 
by his vigorous, and sometimes very severe measures, 
succeeded in breaking down the political power, and 
subduing the arrogant assumptions, of the great fami^ 
lies; several among whom lost their heads on the 
scaffold, while not a few were condemned to life-long 
imprisonment. His most inveterate and most powerful 
adversary was Gaston, Duke of Orleans, brother of the 
king; but he triumphed over him, and also over the 
queen-mother, who was obliged to withdraw into exile 
at Cologne. 

To break down the fabric of provincial feudalism, 
Richelieu fell upon another device, which cannot be 
commended for its honesty. It consisted in attracting 
the nobles to Paris, where, by a course of luxury and 
extravagance, they would be so far financially ruined as 
to become dependent on the favour of the court. To 
further plans of this kind, various improvements were 
carried out in the capital. The palace of the Tuileries 
was enlarged and beautified, literature and the arts were 
patronised, the Acad'emie Fran<;aise was organised in 1635, 
the medical botanical garden established, and a taste for 
dress and refinement encouraged. In his own princely 
dwelling, the great minister gave an example of the most 
luxurious and costly style of living. From this time, 
the higher classes in France, for the greater part, lost 
their provincial character, and fixed their affections in 
the capital. In some quarters, more especially in La 
Vendee, noblemen and gentlemen continued to live in 
their chateaux ; but too frequently, elsewhere, estates 



1630.] THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 87 

in the country were left to the administration of stewards, 
by whom all the old petty oppressions were exercised 
over the unhappy tenants and peasantry. 

In 1 6 18, broke out in Germany the famous ' Thirty 
Years' War/ between the Catholics and Protestants. 
The wish of Richelieu being to exalt France by every 
available means, he saw an opportunity for doing so 
by carrying on a war against Spain, and by deceit- 
fully fomenting internal disaffection in Germany. For 
this purpose he did not scruple to ally himself with the 
designs of the German Protestants, and even with the 
great champion of the Protestant cause, Gustavus of 
Sweden. In order to lower Austria, he took part with 
the disaffected Austro-Spanish provinces in the Nether- 
lands. A repetition of a former manoeuvre was practised. 
On the ground of helping German allies, a tract of 
country on the left bank of the Rhine was occupied 
with French troops, and these, as we shall see in the 
next reign, were not got rid of without a sacrifice of 
German territory. 

Richelieu's administration was signalised by the firm 
footing with which the French established themselves in 
Canada. For upwards of a century, they had been 
forming settlements on the coast and inlets of North 
America. The first notable explorer of the St Lawrence 
was Jacques Carrier, who, near the Indian village of 
Hochelaga, founded the city of Montreal in 1535. The 
greatest of all the French navigators was Samuel de 
Champlain, who, with an expedition fitted out under the 
auspices of Henry IV., proceeded up the St Lawrence, 
and, besides founding Quebec, 3d July 1608, did much 
to consolidate the French power in Canada, of which 
he was appointed governor in 1633. This great man — 



88 FRANCE. 

for such he was from his energy and heroic patriotism — 
died 1635. He left a voluminous account of his various 
expeditions, which has been deservedly appreciated. 

On account of the abrogation of feudal jurisdic- 
tions, there arose, in the reign of Henry II. (155 1), the 
practice of appointing provincial overseers, then styled 
commissaires departis. Under the complete system of 
centralisation established by Richelieu in the reign 
of Louis XIII., these functionaries, under the designa- 
tion of Intendants, became the organs of the royal 
minister, to the exclusion of all provincial action. To 
them belonged the proportioning of assessments, the 
levying of soldiers, the procuring of supplies for the 
army and the royal magazines, the keeping of roads and 
public edifices in repair, and the regulation of the trade 
in corn from one province to another. The performance 
of duties so very miscellaneous gave these officials con- 
siderable local, if not despotic, power. 

Richelieu died 4th December 1642, having, with his 
dying breath, recommended the king to place in his 
stead Cardinal Mazarin, who was, he said, the only person 
qualified to carry out his political system. Louis XIII. 
did not long survive. He died 14th May 1643, leaving 
two infant sons : the elder ascended the throne as Louis 
XIV. ; the second was Philippe I., Duke of Orleans, 
Chartres, Valois, and Nemours, progenitor of the Orleans 
branch of the House of Bourbon. 



V 



CHAPTER IX. 

LOUIS XIV. 1643-T715. 

OUIS XIV., born 5th September 1638, became king 
-*-^ in 1643, when only five years of age. There was 
accordingly a long minority, with the queen-mother, 
Anne of Austria, as regent, and Cardinal Mazarin as 
prime-minister. Mazarin, or, more correctly, Mazarini, 
who was an Italian, did not possess the financial genius 
of Richelieu, but he emulated him in the desire to 
establish a centralised despotism. The policy of 
demoralising the nobility and gentry by attracting them 
to Paris, was continued with renewed ardour. The 
system was, in effect, a robbery of the provinces to 
enrich the capital; while it was attended with the 
additional evil of withdrawing from the rural districts 
those who, by their means and position, ought to have 
been qualified to take part in the business of local 
administration. It likewise gave the nobles an oppor- 
tunity of forming intrigues and factions, which, with all 
their dependence on the court, they were not slow to 
make use of Considered altogether, few plans for 
producing a state of political decrepitude could have 
been more effectual. In the way of contrast : at this 
time there were maturing in England those principles of 
civil and religious liberty which, fifty years later, found 



90 FRANCE. 

their consummation in the Bill of Rights and the 
Revolution Settlement. 

The wars begun by Richelieu were continued by his 
successor, for no other reason than to elevate France by 
the depression of Spain, Austria, and Germany. For- 
tune favoured this settled purpose by giving to France 
two great military commanders. The first was Louis, 
Prince of Conde, commonly termed the ' Great Conde ' 
(son of the Conde who had been concerned in the wars 
of Louis XIII.). The second was Vicomte de Turenne, 
who had already shewn masterly generalship in the 
war against Spain. Conde was still a youth when, 
being commander in the Netherlands, he fought and 
gained the battle of Rocroi, 19th May 1643, with 
which brilliant victory over the Spaniards, the reign of 
Louis XIV. was commenced. Conde, along with 
Turenne, soon after gained several victories over the 
Germans and Spaniards ; and it may be said that, from 
these extraordinary successes, a taste for conquest and 
military glory was firmly implanted in the French 
character. 

During the foreign war in the early years of Louis 
XIV., there broke out (1648) an internal convulsion, 
historically known as the 6 wars of the Fronde.' The 
term Fronde is from the French word frondeitr, a slinger, 
and was metaphorically employed to signify a grumbler, or 
one who throws out censorious remarks. The frondeurs 
on this occasion were certain princes and nobles who felt 
themselves aggrieved by being excluded from high ofrices, 
and their place supplied by foreigners. In their hatred 
of Mazarin, they were joined by the Parliament of Paris, 
which, contrary to what it thought was its privileges, was 
compelled to register royal edicts imposing taxes. The 



1648.] LOUIS XIV. 91 

people took part with the frondeurs; the dissensions 
led to the erecting of barricades in the streets; the 
court removed to St Germain; and Conde blockaded 
Paris. 

In his Steele de Louis XIV., Voltaire draws a 
comparison between the decorous gravity and delibera- 
tion with which the English prosecuted Charles I. — 
London being in no degree excited, even on the day of 
his execution — and the inconsiderate levity of the French 
in conducting the wars of the Fronde. In the midst of 
the troubles, he says, the nobles met to settle what ladies 
should be entitled to claim the tabouret (a footstool to 
sit upon) in presence of the queen ! - At the outbreak, 
the populace of Paris rushed about with gay ribbons on 
their hats, and held uproarious deliberations in the worst 
kind of taverns. There was universal fun and laughter • 
and nothing was so much relished in these delirious 
proceedings as the amusing fact, that the handle of a 
dagger had been seen sticking out of the pocket of the 
archbishop of Paris on going to take his seat in the 
Parliament — the joke being that the dagger was called the 
archbishop's breviary ! The whole affair of the Fronde, 
with its confusion of factions, change of sides, and want 
of steady purpose, was a protracted burlesque on civil 
war. After dragging wearily on for a number of years, 
a formal pacification took place in 1659. 

In the course of 1648, the Thirty Years' War in 
Germany terminated by the mutual exhaustion of the 
parties more immediately concerned — Roman Catholics 
and Protestants. After the sufferings which had been 
inflicted, both were disposed for peace, which was, 
secured by the treaty of Westphalia, signed at Minister,- 
24th October 1648. By one of the terms of this famed^ 

X 



92 FRANCE. 

treaty, all persecution on the score of religion was 
forbidden in Germany. The treaty entitled the different 
states, large and small, composing the German empire, 
to contract alliances with each other or with foreign 
powers, if these were not opposed to the general interests 
of the empire. The privilege so confirmed, and for 
which the respective states struggled ^ith the concur- 
rence of France, proved fatal to GL < qi power and 
unity, for it laid the country open to t^A devices and 
encroachments of its watchful and v $, ever-ambitious 
neighbour. Besides this means of sowkv^ ^discord, an 
immediate and substantial advantage was secured by the 
French. 

In their professed zeal to help the Protestant states 
of Germany, the French had been allowed to obtain a 
temporary military occupation of the left bank of the 
Rhine, from Strasburg to Coblentz. Now that the war 
was over, they refused to withdraw, unless Alsace was 
ceded as an indemnity for the expenses to which they 
had been put The emperor was powerless, except to 
protest; and at last it was agreed that France should 
have a large part of this rich territory. The important 
free city of Strasburg, and a number of counties 
and abbacies holding directly from the emperor, 
were expressly excepted; but with Metz, which had 
been secured by the stratagem of Montmorency in 1552, 
and the large section of Alsace now resigned to them by 
the treaty of Westphalia, the French established such a 
footing on the left bank of the Rhine as to facilitate 
further acquisitions. 

The peace of Westphalia did not put an end to the 
war between France and Spain, which had begun in 
1635. In 1657, France entered into an alliance with 



1657.] MAZARIN. 93 

England (Cromwell having declared war on Spain in 
1655), and conquered several fortified places in the 
Spanish Netherlands. Spain at the same time suffered 
losses at sea and in America ; and in Italy, Savoy took 
Spanish Lombardy. Both parties were now willing for 
peace, which took place in 1659. Spain ceded to 
France the province of Roussillon with its capital 
Perpignan, and a few other places, so that the Pyrenees 
have since been the boundary of the two countries. 
In the Netherlands, Spain ceded Artois and portions 
of Flanders, Hainault, and Luxemburg, with the for- 
tresses of Arras, Hesdin, Gravelines, Landrecy, Le 
Quesnoy, Thionville, Montmedy, Marienburg, and 
Philippeville. France, on the other side, promised not 
to aid Portugal, with which Spain was at feud. The 
Prince of Conde, and the Dukes of Lorraine, Savoy, 
and Modena, were reinstated as before the war. 

This peace with Spain, called the peace of the 
Pyrenees, led, in 1660, to the marriage of Louis XIV., 
now twenty-two years of age, with Maria Theresa, eldest 
daughter of Philip IV. of Spain. Both Maria Theresa 
and Louis renounced for themselves and descendants 
all claim to the Spanish crown, as had been previously 
done by Louis's father and mother. Maria Theresa 
is said to have possessed neither beauty nor other 
attractive qualities. Little was expected from the young 
king; his education had been neglected, and his 
conduct was dissolute; he, however, possessed abili- 
ties, which he speedily manifested. Mazarin, under 
whom the influence of France had increased, died in 
1 66 1 ; whereupon the king suddenly assumed the reins of 
government ; and from that time forth carried into effect 
with rare energy a political theory of pure despotism, 



94 FRANCE. 

for which previous circumstances had paved the way. 
His famous saying, ' Letat, Jest moi ' (' I am the state '), 
expressed the principle to which everything was accom- 
modated. Here, then, was fairly launched the Grand 
Moiiarque — the Louis Quatorze — of the accounts of 
whose magnificence, overwhelming to popular fancy, 
there is no end. For any amount of grandeur, Louis 
was peculiarly favoured by nature. He had a cool 
and clear head, with much dignity and amenity of 
manners, great activity, and indomitable perseverance, 
for which he was indebted to a good constitution — 
a constitution which extended his life far beyond the 
ordinary span of that of French sovereigns. 

The times were favourable for the appearance of this 
imposing personage. France was suffering from the de- 
pletion of foreign and internal wars. The nation longed 
for repose, and to secure this blessing, was willing to be 
ruled by an autocrat. Louis was ably supported by his 
ministers in carrying out plans for relieving the public 
distress, invigorating the wasted finances, and imparting 
prosperity to trade and manufactures. The most notable 
of these ministers was Colbert, a person of Scottish 
extraction, who began life >s apprentice to a woollen- 
draper at Rheims ; at Paris, his talents procured him an 
introduction to Mazarin ; and by Louis XIV. he was, 
in 1 66 1, appointed controller-general of the finances. 
In this post his ability resembled that of Sully. He 
immensely increased the public revenue, lessened the 
national debt, developed the industry of the country, 
and organised various colonies for the promotion of 
commercial enterprise. 

Colbert was in some respects in advance of his time. 
Although a protectionist in a national point of view, 



1658.] COLBERT. 95 

he attempted to promote freedom of trade between 
different provinces of the kingdom, but in this he was 
only in a limited degree successful, and long afterwards 
certain provinces continued to levy protective duties 
against the merchandise brought from other parts of 
France. As regards trade guilds in towns, he laboured 
under the antiquated delusion, that these exclusive cor- 
porations, with their narrow-minded and troublesome 
regulations, maintained a high standard of excellence in 
their respective branches of manufacture. The restric- 
tions of the guilds had been denounced as an intolerable 
grievance by the States-general in 16 14. Colbert, never- 
theless, supported them, only attempting to improve the 
regulations, and to further a superiority in manufacture 
by means of bounties. As similar illusions prevailed 
among English statesmen and traders until our own 
times, Colbert's ignorance of the true principles of 
commerce may be thought excusable. 

We do not learn that this great man made any 
attempt to promote a general system of education, beyond 
what was given in the system of provincial colleges. 
Colbert's notions of learning, like those of Richelieu 
and Mazarin, found an outlet in establishing societies 
in Paris. He founded the Academies of Inscriptions, 
Science, and Architecture. At heart, he was a true lover 
of his country, and, according to his lights, did the best 
to advance its interests. Dunkirk had been captured 
by the English, under Oliver Cromwell, in 1658. Col- 
bert patriotically restored it to France, by buying it for 
^500,000 from Charles II., who meanly parted with it 
for his own advantage, as the money was never paid 
into the national exchequer, 

Favoured by Colbert's ability as a financier, Louis 



96 FRANCE. 

XIV. was able to raise and equip a powerful army to 
prosecute his ambitious schemes. On the death of 
Philip IV. of Spain, Louis, as his son-in-law, set up a 
claim to a part of the Spanish Netherlands. Now 
began, in 1667, his celebrated wars in Flanders and 
Germany, carried on with the assistance of Condd and 
Turenne, and by which he became the terror of Europe. 
In the course of these wars there were various shiftings 
of the alliances. Charles II. of England, bought by 
French gold, took part at first with France against the 
Dutch. In the end, England joined the alliance against 
France, and Louis XIV. saw fit to put an end to the 
wanton and desolating contest. By the peace of 
Nimeguen (1678 and 1679), Louis, while giving up some 
of his conquests, acquired a number of places in the 
Netherlands, together with Franche-Comte, which had 
belonged to Spain. 

Although Louis was now ostensibly at peace with 
Germany, he resolved to continue his aggressions on 
it without declaring war. Accordingly, while a con- 
gress, proposed by himself, was sitting at Frankfort for 
the settlement of disputes between France and the 
empire, a body of French troops in Alsace, in the 
middle of the nigHt, 28th to 29th September 1681, stole 
from a neighbouring wood and occupied the approaches 
to Strasburg, and soon, an army of 40,000 men sur- 
rounded the city. There were no means of defence, 
and under the threat of being immediately stormed and 
pillaged, the citizens were obliged to open their gates. 
Strasburg was captured. This virtually decided the 
fate of the country. The French acquisitions were 
sanctioned by the peace of Ryswick, 1697, and Alsace 
was henceforth a French province, with the exception 



1685.] TURENNE. 99 

of a small part at its southern extremity, w'mounted 
taken from Germany at the Revolution. d those 

In 1685, arose a new war on the Rhine. The Ere re- 
of the Palatinate having died that year, leaving his sistny 
the Duchess of Orleans, heiress of his movable pro- 
perty, Louis claimed for her all the allodial lands. By 
direction of Louvojs, the war-minister, now began the 
most horrid outrages under Turenne in the Palatinate 
and neighbouring districts, of which the country still 
bears painful and significant traces. The palace of 
Heidelberg, once the residence of Elizabeth Stuart, 
remains till this day a shattered ruin. Worms, where 
diets of the empire were once held, was so far destroyed 
and ruined, as to be ever since a poor dull place, 
resembling a woe-begone and deserted village. Spires 
suffered entire destruction. The houses were blown 
up 1 the town was levelled with the dust; and the 
wretched inhabitants were driven forth by soldiers and 
bands of executioners, who threatened death to all who 
might offer resistance. A few of them afterwards 
returned, but the place was only distinguishable by 
heaps of rubbish. 

As if to cover moral delinquencies, and satisfy his 
own conscience, Louis XIV. professed the most pro- 
found attachment to the Roman Catholic Church. As 
early as 1662, he commenced a systematic persecution 
of the Protestants by the issue of sundry enactments 
which rendered scarcely practicable their religious 
meetings, according to the toleration granted by the 
Edict of Nantes. All varieties of restrictions were 
imposed in order to induce them to renounce the 
Reformed faith. Colbert, in his magnanimity, had 
restrained persecution. His correction of abuses, and 

G 



9 8 i FRANCE. 

diligent y**rvices to promote the national advancement, 
were re^ al ^ e< ^ wlt ^ m g rat itude by both king and people. 
Dying/ m P^ r is in 1683, his age and his exalted char- 
acter^ became the subject of scurrilous lampoons; and, 
tfO save his body from popular outrage, his funeral took 
/place at night under military protection. Now that he 
was gone, the last obstacle to religious persecution was 
removed. 

Among the incitements to persecute the Huguenots, 
there was one that cannot be omitted. The queen died 
in 1683, and in about eighteen months afterwards, Louis 
formed a connection with Madame de Maintenon. 
Born a Protestant (1635), tms l a( ty had been converted 
to Catholicism when fourteen years of age. At six- 
teen, she married the poet Scarron, and she was left 
a widow by his death in 1660. Introduced to {he 
king with a view to educating the children of Madame 
de Montespan, she fascinated him by her fine form, 
beautiful hands, sprightly countenance, and affectionate 
manner. Marriage with her in a regular way being 
against law and etiquette, Louis was married to her 
secretly in 1684. By this irregular union, she did not 
become queen, but was treated as such by the king, 
and from his family and court she received the most 
respectful deference. 

As a convert, Madame de Maintenon was a furious 
zealot, and was not long in instigating Louis to adopt 
sharp measures for extirpating all enemies of the 
church. The stronghold of the Protestants extended from 
Rochelle, along the borders of the Pyrenees, to Langue- 
doc ; and in a mountainous portion of that province, 
known as the Cevennes, they held most stanchly to their 
opinions. Ordinary tyrannical measures having failed, 



1685.] RE VOCA TION OF EDICT OF NANTES. 99 

Louis resorted to military force. Troops of mounted 
soldiers were let loose upon the inhabitants, and those 
who would not renounce their religious belief, were re- 
morselessly slaughtered. In Languedoc alone, as many 
as 100,000 persons are said to have been put to death, 
generally with cruel tortures. These merciless opera- 
tions, which obtained the name of dragonnades, from 
being carried out by dragoons, remain a foul blot on the 
memory of Louis XIV. 

The dragonnades failed to extirpate the Huguenots of 
the Cevennes, many of whom took up arms in defence 
of their lives and homes, and a civil war raged less or 
more in the district for a number of years. In his 
exasperation, Louis XIV. issued a decree, 18th October 
1685, revoking the Edict of Nantes, by which the pro- 
fession of the Reformed faith was rendered impossible 
throughout the whole of France, excepting in those 
mountainous districts where the people had assumed an 
attitude of defiance. The revocation of the Edict of 
Nantes was not only an act of cruelty, but of extreme 
folly. It was equivalent to a decree for banishing the 
most industrious, peaceful, intelligent, and religious part 
of the nation. Rather than conform to the established 
religion, 400,000 Protestants quitted France, and found 
a hospitable refuge in Great Britain, Holland, Prussia, 
Switzerland, and America. The loss to France was 
immense, and the gain to other countries not less. The 
exiles carried with them a knowledge of silk spinning 
and weaving, dyeing, crystal-glass making, painting, the 
manufacture of delicate kinds of jewellery, watch-making, 
and other useful arts, along with general refinement and 
intelligence. Some families in England distinguished in 
law, literature, commerce, and statesmanship trace their 



ioo FRANCE. 

origin to the refugees whom Louis XIV. drove so madly 
from his kingdom in 1685. 

Such were some of the doings of the Grand 
Monarque, who was obeyed with Asiatic servility. 
Admiring his grandeur and successful audacity, the 
French people saw with composure every vestige of 
political independence swept away. No assemblies of 
the States-general, or of the Notables, were held; the 
nobles had lost both the desire and the ability to assert 
political power. The municipal corporations, dating 
from the Roman occupation, and which, sustained by 
the edicts of St Louis, had escaped the tyrannies of the 
House of Valois, were now reduced to the condition of 
being nominated by the court. The rural districts 
remained under the control of intendants, who were 
immediately responsible to the ministers, and they to 
the king, who was his own prime-minister. The 
Parliament of Paris, so far as it could be a check 
on his arbitrary measures, was insolently silenced. 
Visiting it one day, and flourishing a whip in his hand, 
Louis told the members that they must henceforth mind 
their proper duties, and not interfere with his ordinances. 
Even the courts of justice yielded to the absolute 
sway of the monarch, who interfered at pleasure with the 
ordinary course of law. Louis also asserted a right 
to dispose at his own will of all properties within the 
boundaries of his realm, and took credit to himself for 
gracious moderation in exercising it. The court was 
the very heart of the political and national life of 
France, and there the utmost splendour was maintained ; 
and a system of etiquette was established, which was a 
sort of perpetual worship of the king. 

Louis XIV. added to the attractions of Paris, and 



167a] VERSAILLES, 101 

some of its finer buildings date from his reign. Among 
these may be mentioned the Hotel des Invalides, or 
hospital for disabled soldiers, founded in 1670. Besides 
erecting new churches, streets, and places, he, with the 
advice of Colbert, set on foot the royal tapestry manu- 
facture, called the Gobelins, from the name of a dyer 
who originally occupied the establishment The citizens 
and municipality of Paris, in recognition of his warlike 
exploits, erected two ornamental gateways — the Porte 
St Martin and Porte St Denis — which still exist, bearing 
sculptures commemorative of the military triumphs of 
the Grand Monarque. The greatest architectural work 
of Louis XIV. was the palace of Versailles, which was 
built at an enormous cost Situated at the distance 
of eleven miles to the south-west of Paris, with 
a regularly-built town in front, and with extensive 
pleasure-grounds behind, it became, until recent times, 
a favourite residence of royalty. In his reign, all 
that concerns matters of luxury and taste rose to 
a high pitch of splendour. The flowing and pow- 
dered periwigs, the grand dresses, the fans, jewellery, 
ornamental snuff-boxes, cocked-hats, and innumerable 
fanciful articles which came into vogue in the early 
part of the eighteenth century, owed their origin to the 
reign of Louis Quatorze, whose court set the fashion to 
nearly the whole of Europe. 

The era of Louis XIV. developed a number of 
brilliant writers, and men distinguished in various 
branches of learning and art It was the Augustan age 
of French literature. Corneille, who wrote some of his 
Works in the previous reign, brought the classic style 
of tragedy to its highest point of grandeur, though to 
English taste it is stilted and unnatural. His best pieces 



102 FRANCE. 

are Le Cid, Les Horaces, and Cinna. Pascal, in his 
Lettres Provinciates, established a standard of French 
prose ; while Descartes, in his Discours sur la Methode, 
shewed the adaptability of the language to subjects 
requiring preciseness of expression. Bossuet and 
Flechier won respect by their noble funeral orations; 
Bourdaloue and Massillon, by their eloquent preaching ; 
Fenelon, archbishop of Cambrai, by his learning and 
earnest exhortations ; and Pascal, by his Christian view 
of human experiences. 

In the dramatic literature essentially belonging to 
this reign, Racine and Moliere stand forth conspicuous. 
Racine was pre-eminent in tragedy, as his Andromaque, 
Iphigenie, Phedre, testify. Moliere was inimitable in 
comedy, and his wonderful powers of delineating human 
character from a humorous point of view have never 
been surpassed. Among his best pieces, we may instance 
Tartufe, Le Misanthrope, and Les Femnies Savantes. La 
Fontaine obtained celebrity by his moral fables; and 
Boileau for his LArt Poetique. La Rochefoucauld and 
La Bruyere, in their Sentences and Caracteres, depicted 
human : character, with its peculiarities and foibles. 
Malebranche displayed great depth and originality of 
thought, combined with perspicuity and elegance, in 
his De la Recherche de la Verite, a work designed to 
trace psychologically the causes of the errors to which 
the human mind is liable. Bayle may be said to have 
led the way as an encyclopaedist. In 1697, appeared 
his Grand Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, a work, 
however, more ponderous in bulk than estimable for 
its disquisitions, which caused at the time much con- 
troversy. This was the age of memoirs and letters. 
No letters have ever obtained such celebrity as those 



1690.] FENELON. 103 

of Madame de Sevigne. No comic novels excelled 
those of Lesage — Gil Bias de Santillane, and Le Diable 
Boiteux — which appeared at the conclusion of Louis 
XIV. 's reign. As regards the arts, Vauban for military, 
and Riquet for civil, engineering, Le Brun for historical 
painting, Mansard for architecture, and Le Notre for 
gardening, are among the most memorable men of the 
time. 

Fenelon, besides contributing by his philosophic and 
religious writings to the glory of French literature, did it 
an immortal service when he gave it his classic romance 
of Telemaque^ a book widely known through its English 
and other translations. This charming moral story was 
specially composed for the instruction of his pupil, the 
dauphin, Louis, Duke of Burgundy. Strange to say, the 
work only brought Fenelon into disgrace. The fiction, 
being assumed to be a satire on the king and some 
members of the court, was publicly condemned ; and its 
author was banished to his archiepiscopal diocese. The 
circumstance illustrates the baseness of Louis XIV. 
He required to bask in a continual round of adulation, 
and to be flattered even in his vices. The learned 
societies which had been founded by Richelieu, Mazarin, 
and Colbert were degraded to the character of so many 
baits to attract men of literary and artistic aspirations to 
Paris, where they could be drawn into the vortex of the 
court, and be made useful in giving the gloss of genius 
to its manifold profligacies. 

From the polluting moral atmosphere of the capital, 
however, many men, eminent for their learning, sought a 
refuge in that species of retirement for which, as is well 
known, the Roman Catholic Church affords oppor- 
tunities. No retreat of this nature obtained so much 



io 4 FRANCE. 

celebrity as that of Port Royal, an abbey situated in the 
neighbourhood of Versailles. Here, Pascal resided for a 
time, in the community of scholars and divines, and 
made himself famous by his Lettres Provinciates, the 
origin of which may be briefly explained. 

During this and the preceding reign, the Gallican 
church was much agitated by a theological contro- 
versy, which was important in its doctrinal, social, 
and political results. The controversy originated in 
a theological treatise by Cornelius Jansen, an eminent 
Dutch divine, bishop of Ypres in Flanders, who died 
1638. Jansen endeavoured to prove that the teach- 
ing of the Jesuit schools on grace, free-will, and 
predestination, did not correspond with a correct 
analysis of the doctrine on these subjects by St Augus- 
tine, and was therefore heretical. The commotion 
caused by this bold and scholarly exposition was extra- 
ordinary. The Jesuits were furious, and by an appeal 
to the pope, a bull was issued condemning Jansen's 
opinions. People took different sides; but it was 
greatly in favour of the Jansenist views, that they were 
embraced by Pascal and other members of the com- 
munity of Port Royal. Louis XIV. was not a person to 
allow the slightest invasion of the usually accredited 
doctrines. By a peremptory decree, he repressed those 
promulgated by Jansen, and caused the abbey of Port 
Royal to be destroyed; but the exposure of the prin- 
ciples of the Jesuits by Pascal in his celebrated Provi?i- 
cial Letters proved permanently damaging to that body. 
Jansenism was not altogether extinguished. It continued 
for a long period, under various phases, to trouble the 
Gallican church. The more rigid of the Jansenist 
clergy felt themselves obliged to quit the country. 



1702.] WAR OF SPANISH SUCCESSION. 105 

They emigrated to Holland, where the sect still exists, 
as a species of Calvinistic Roman Catholic dissenters, 
consisting of about five thousand members with twenty- 
five churches. 

The latest military undertaking of Louis XIV. was 
the War of the Spanish Succession, which he entered 
upon to carry out certain ambitious designs ; his object 
in reality being to unite the sovereignties of France and 
Spain in his own family. To understand the nature 
of the war, a few explanations are necessary. Philip 
IV. of Spain had a son, who succeeded him as Charles 
II. ; he had also two daughters, Maria Theresa, who 
married Louis XIV., and Margaret Theresa, who married 
Leopold, emperor of Germany. Louis XIV., by his 
queen, Maria Theresa, had several daughters and three 
sons. All the sons predeceased him. The eldest of 
them, Louis, the dauphin, left two sons, the eldest of 
whom was Louis, Duke of Burgundy, who became 
dauphin, and the younger was Philippe, Duke of Anjou. 
In other words, Louis XIV. had, in his old days, only 
these two grandsons (with several great-grandchildren). 
It will be recollected that, when Maria Theresa married 
Louis, she renounced all claim which she or her de- 
scendants might eventually have to the crown of Spain. 
Unfortunately for the peace of Europe, her brother, 
Charles II., died without issue, 1st November 1700. 
Louis XIV., with more foresight than honesty, had per- 
suaded Charles, on his deathbed, to make a will, leaving 
Spain to his second grandson, Philippe, Duke of 
Anjou; and immediately on the death of Charles, 
regardless of the solemn renunciation he had made, he 
accepted the Spanish throne on behalf of his grandson, 
and sent him off without delay to take possession. In 



io6 FRANCE. 

bidding him adieu, he gave utterance to the words, 
which have become historically memorable : ' // riy a 
plus de Pyrenees ' (' There are no longer any Pyrenees '). 

There was, however, a rival claimant for the Spanish 
crown. Leopold, emperor of Germany, considered he 
had a right to interfere. His mother was Mary Ann, 
the younger daughter of Philip III., and at their marriage 
there had been no renunciation of the Spanish crown, as 
in the case of the elder sister. Besides his claim on this 
ground, Leopold had married Margaret Theresa, daughter 
of Philip IV. For these reasons, as well as on account 
of the renunciation of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., he 
supported the claim of his son, Charles, who afterwards 
became the emperor Charles VI. Neither party would 
yield, and in 1702 there broke forth the War of the 
Spanish Succession, which was carried on at a disad- 
vantage to France in the Netherlands and Italy. The 
two great French commanders, Turenne and Conde, had 
long since vanished, and the chief dependence was on 
Marshal Villars. We cannot go into an account of the 
hostilities. The French sustained one defeat after 
another at the hands of the allied British-Dutch-German 
army under Marlborough in the Low Countries, and 
under Prince Eugene in Italy. A combined English and 
Dutch force captured Gibraltar, after a bombardment, 
in 1704, and ever since, in spite of numerous attacks, 
this key of the Mediterranean has belonged to Great 
Britain. 

Among the severe defeats of the French were that at 
Blenheim, 13th August 1704, and that at Ramillies, 23d 
May 1706. The victories of Marlborough were discourag- 
ing, but the French, with their habitual light-heartedness, 
happily consoled themselves with epigrams, and more 



I7I3-] PEACE OF UTRECHT. 107 

especially with the satirical song, beginning, ' Malbrouk 
s'm va-t-en guerre* (' Marlborough has gone to the war '), 
which remained long a popular favourite. In the midst 
of the desperate struggle with Marlborough, Louis found 
he had another enemy to contend with. The Huguenots 
in the Cevennes maintained their guerrilla warfare with 
indomitable courage. Known as Camisards, from the 
circumstance, as is believed, of their wearing a species 
of chemise or blouse, they were at this time particularly 
formidable, and Louis had to send large bodies of 
troops to extinguish them, which was -done with the 
usual ferocity. 

Villars, the most enterprising and fortunate of the 
French generals, was at last fairly beaten by Marl- 
borough, at Malplaquet, September 1709. After some 
further campaigning, besieging, and negotiating, the 
opportune death of the emperor rescued France from 
the brink of destruction. The British now withdrew 
from the war, but it was carried on some time longer 
by the Dutch and Prince Eugene. At length, a general 
peace, which included the Dutch, was effected by the 
> treaty of Utrecht, nth April 17 13. The Austrians 
made peace by the treaty of Baden in 17 14. These 
treaties sanctioned the occupation of the Spanish throne 
by the grandson of Louis, who was the first of the 
House of Bourbon in that country, and reigned as Philip 
V. For the concession of Spain, the French relinquished 
some valuable colonies. The war, which had been 
carried on at a prodigious sacrifice of life and money 
for a period of about eleven years, almost ruined France. 
The king had gained his ends, but by the impc-verish- 
ment of his subjects. A terrible fermentation prevailed, 
but Louis maintained to the last an unbending despotism. 



io8 FRANCE. 

The history of the Grand Monarque would be incom- 
plete if we omitted to speak of the tyranny he did not 
scruple to exercise over the individuals who unhappily 
incurred his vengeance. Louis XL, as has been seen, 
cruelly confined Cardinal Ballue for years in an iron 
cage. Ever since his reign, there had been several 
state-prisons, in the form of strong and gloomy fortresses, 
where the kings could put away secretly such persons 
as gave them displeasure. Fathers of families, priests, 
soldiers, statesmen, noblemen of the court, ladies of 
quality — all were numbered among the victims of this 
iniquitous abuse of power. There was usually no form 
of trial ; lettres de cachet \ or sealed warrants, were put in 
force with merciless severity. During his reign, there 
were issued about nine thousand of these terrible writs. 
Sometimes the individual thus taken suddenly into 
custody would be transferred to the Bastille at Paris, 
where he would be kept for years, or for life, holding 
no communication whatever with the external world. 
At other times, in cases of greater vengefulness, the 
poor victim would . be thrown into a vault, to die, 
within a few days or weeks, of starvation. 

Whether Louis XIV. resorted to this extreme barbarity, 
is not known. Unrestrained by scruples of generosity, 
honour, or religion, it is at least certain that, throughout 
his long reign, he was one of the most detestable tyrants 
that have ever challenged the execration of mankind. 
The Bastille and other state-prisons were filled by him 
with unfortunate captives, many of them ignorant of 
the offences laid to their charge, and all exposed, as 
authentic records verify, to the worst practices of the 
most barbarous ages, even to the infliction of torture 
itself. In everything connected with these prisoners, 



1697.] MAN WITH IRON MASK. 109 

the utmost secrecy was usually observed : they were 
seized in the dead of night, fictitious names given to 
them, and all traces of their fate obliterated. Thus the 
anguish of families was increased by the very uncertainty 
in which they remained as to what had befallen their 
vanished relatives. 

Of all the cases of this kind, none has obtained such 
notoriety, or excited so much curiosity, as that of the 
'Man with the Iron Mask.' The accounts of this 
person, which first appeared about the middle of the 
eighteenth century, are now known to have been over- 
laid with fiction. The real facts would seem to be these. 
In the year 1677, Louis XIV. conceived the idea of 
inducing the Duke of Mantua to permit the introduction 
of a French garrison into Casale, a strongly fortified town, 
which would give access to the whole of Lombardy. 
This scheme he proposed to effect through the medium 
of Count Matthioli, whom the duke sent to the French 
ambassador at Venice on this secret and treacherous 
mission, and afterwards to Paris, with full powers to 
negotiate a treaty. Matthioli having accepted money 
from the French minister as the price of his services, 
afterwards had the baseness to reveal the affair for a 
bribe to the court of Savoy. Enraged on discovering 
Matthioli's treachery, Louis XIV. had him secretly 
arrested and conveyed to the fortress of Pignerol, 2d 
May 1679. 

Here, and at several other state-prisons in succes- 
sion, extraordinary precautions were taken for his 
concealment, as the arrest of the plenipotentiary of a 
sovereign prince would have been a European scandal 
which even Louis XIV. did not care to face. He was 
allowed no communication with the outer world, and 



no FRANCE. 

when carried from one prison to another, he wore 
a mask, not of iron, according to popular tradition, 
but one of black velvet, interlaced with whalebone, 
and fastened behind the head with a padlock, leaving 
the patient at liberty to eat, drink, and respire. The 
name under which he was referred to at first in 
correspondence with the king, or Louvois, minister of 
war, was the Sieur de Lestang. On the 18th September 
1698, he was brought to the Bastille, where he lingered 
five more tedious years, and died on the 19th November 
1703, being buried the day after, All possible pains 
were taken to eradicate every vestige of his existence, 
and to cover his memory with an impenetrable mystery. 
The fact of a person of some note having been immured 
in the way mentioned for a space of twenty-four years, 
throws a strange light on the political condition of 
France, so lately as the end of the seventeenth and 
beginning of the eighteenth century. 

Louis XIV., memorable for magnificence and his ' 
meanness, died, after a short illness, 1st September 
1 7 15. During his long reign of seventy-two years, 
he had for contemporaries in England Charles I., 
Cromwell, Charles II., James II., William and Mary, 
William III., Queen Anne, and, for a short time, George 
I. His era, it will be observed, was that of the great 
constitutional struggle in England, with which he had 
no sympathy. When that struggle was brought to a 
close by the Revolution, he received James II., and 
assigned him the palace of St Germain as a residence; 
for which act of hospitality to an unfortunate monarch 
he merits praise. He afterwards aided James in his 
attempt to recover the throne by invading Ireland ; the 
failure of which attempt by the memorable defeat at the 



I7I5-3 DEATH OF LOUIS XIV. in 

Boyne, 1st July 1690, belongs to British history. At the 
death of Louis XIV., France was politically and physically 
prostrate. The enormous drain of treasure in court 
extravagance and successive wars had ruined trade ; by 
military exhaustion, towns were nearly depopulated, and 
tracts of country had gone out of cultivation. And yet, 
to the last, Louis XIV. dazzled the eyes of his infatuated 
subjects with a splendour which was contributing to 
their destruction. There have been kings with grosser 
vices, but none who wrought such incalculable mischief 
on a whole people. 



CHAPTER X. 

LOUIS XV. — 1715-1774. 

'"THE sons of Louis XIV., as has been said, pre- 
■*■ deceased him. For a time, his heir-apparent was 
his grandson, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, who, as pupil 
of Fenelon, had shewn good talents and dispositions. 
From papers which he wrote, there is a belief that he 
contemplated a beneficial change in the constitution. 
Fate determined otherwise. This hopeful prince died in 
17 12. He left two sons, the elder of whom survived 
him only a month. The younger, born 15 th February 
1 7 10, now became dauphin, and he succeeded to the 
throne as Louis XV. in 17 15, on the decease of his 
great-grandfather. Here, again, was a child-king, and 
consequently a minority. In cases of this kind, the 
Parliament of Paris, in its capacity of guardian of the 
state, performed the duty of selecting a regent. On 
the present occasion it appointed the nearest prince of 
the blood, Philippe II., Duke of Orleans. 

Minorities, it seems, were not deemed a serious mis- 
fortune. They might be bad for the nation, but besides 
being a novelty, which was a great matter, they offered 
the double chance of a scramble for place, jobs, and 
various kinds of court favour, according to the expec- 
tations that might be formed, first of the regent, and 



1 71 $.] REGENT ORLEANS. 113 

afterwards of the young king when he came into power. 
Voltaire says characteristically of the demise of the Grand 
Monarque : ' Though the life and death of Louis XIV. 
were certainly glorious, yet was he less lamented than 
he deserved. The love of novelty ; the approach of a 
minority, in which every one hoped to make a fortune ; 
the dispute about the constitution, which then exasper- 
ated the minds of the people — all conspired to cause the 
news of his death to be received with something more 
than indifference. We beheld the same people, who, 
in 1686, had importuned Heaven with tears and sighs 
for the recovery of the monarch who was sick, follow 
his funeral procession with demonstrations of a very 
different nature/ 

The appointment of the Duke of Orleans favoured 
the hopes of that multifarious class who, without 
industry or means, but proud of their rank, conde- 
scended to assist the regent in emptying the national 
exchequer. We would rather be silent on the subject of 
the duke's debaucheries and extravagances, which were 
carried on chiefly in that extensive building known as 
the Palais-Royal. This palace, which environs an open 
quadrangle, was built by Cardinal Richelieu, and was 
bequeathed by him to Louis XI II., whose sister, 
Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I. of England, 
resided here for a short time. Subsequently, it became 
an appanage of the Dukes of Orleans, and here the 
regent, with his titled and abandoned associates, helped 
to sap the foundations of the monarchy. On all hands 
it is agreed that, by his follies, he greatly aggravated the 
political disorder, and, by indulging the whims of a 
charlatan, he brought about a financial crisis. About the 
time he entered office, there arrived in Paris a Scotsman 

H 



114 FRANCE. 

named John Law, a refugee on account of a duel, who 
was full of extraordinary notions of enriching the world 
by the creation of a paper currency. In 17 16, Law (or 
Lass, as the French persistently called him) set up a 
private bank in Paris, which, proving successful, was 
patronised by the r|gent, and in 17 18 was raised to 
the dignity of a national bank, with various important 
privileges. It also conducted the commerce of the India 
Company of France, which had been set on foot by 
Colbert, and was now in a languishing condition. 

Possessing good credit, Law's bank issued prodigious 
quantities of notes. By disseminating this species of 
fictitious wealth, the hopes of the nation were excited 
to an inconceivable extent. In connection with the 
bank, a project for reclaiming and settling on lands in 
the valley of the Mississippi, and called the Mississippi 
Scheme, was originated in 17 19. It was a joint-stock 
company, the shares of which soon rose to an unprece- 
dented nominal value. In 1720, in the midst of the 
frenzy, Law was made a councillor of state, and comp- 
troller-general of finances. The fate of the Mississippi 
Scheme is well known. It suffered a complete collapse; 
Law lost his office, and had to flee from France ; while 
vast numbers of persons were ruined — the disaster 
adding greatly to the general embarrassment of affairs. 

In 1723, Louis XV. was crowned, and assuming the 
reins of government, the Duke of Orleans relinquished 
the regency, but acted for a short time as prime-minister. 
He died from exhaustion by his profligacies in less than 
a year afterwards. The youthful king had been carefully 
educated by Cardinal Fleury, a man of sound judgment, 
simple habits, and singularly placid temperament. To 
this ecclesiastic Louis was greatly attached, and he 



1723.] LOUIS XV. 115 

appointed him his prime-minister and adviser. The 
selection was not popular. Fleury gave offence by his 
prudent economy, his recovery of the finances, and 
abstinence from war; his conduct, however, was so 
unimpeachable, that, with some interruptions, he con- 
tinued at the head of affairs. For a time, the chief 
consideration was to get the young king suitably married. 
Various princesses were thought of, including the Infanta 
of Spain, daughter of Philip V., who came to Paris to be 
shewn off, under a real or implied betrothal. Politically 
or socially, there were objections to all the candidates, 
and the choice unexpectedly fell on a young lady who 
was almost unknown — Maria Lesczynski, daughter of 
Stanislaus, the deposed king of Poland. Father and 
daughter were amazed at their good fortune. The 
marriage took place in 1725. 

Fleury contrived to keep France out of war until 
1733, when Louis XV. was involved in hostilities in 
order to support the claim of his father-in-law to the 
crown of Poland. Russia and Austria were against 
him, and an obstinate struggle ensued, in which Spain 
(enraged at the rejection of the Infanta) took part against 
France. It was a curiously confused war, which lasted 
two years, ending, as usual, in a compromise. Stanislaus 
abandoned his claim on Poland; and the German 
emperor had to consent to his being made Duke of 
Lorraine for life, with the further condition, that the 
duchy should be attached to France at his death. To 
make way for him, the Duke of Lorraine was transferred 
to the grand-duchy of Tuscany; afterwards, he became 
the husband of Maria Theresa, daughter of Charles VI. 
of Austria. The arrangement was considered a master- 
stroke of policy for the French ; for it enabled them to 



n6 FRANCE. 

look forward to getting possession of Lorraine. One of 
the most remarkable events of this war was the cession 
by Austria of Naples and Sicily to Don Carlos, son of 
Philip V. of Spain ; hence the Bourbon dynasty of the 
Two Sicilies. 

The next war with which the French were concerned 
was that known as the War of the Austrian Succession, 
which began in 1740, about the time of the death of 
the aged Cardinal Fleury. The cause of the war was 
this : Charles VI. of Austria had no surviving son, and 
desired to leave his dominions to his daughter, Maria 
Theresa. The decree or instrument making this bequest 
being out of the usual routine, it was requisite that a 
number of European powers should give their concur- 
rence; this was effected, and the united consent was 
styled the Pragmatic Sanction. Charles died in 1740, 
when the obligation, for divers reasons, was repudiated 
by France, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Naples, and Sar- 
dinia. War was commenced, and England, taking the 
part of Austria, sent an army to Germany in 1743. It 
was commanded by the Earl of Stair, and George II. 
supported the military manoeuvres with much ability at 
the battle of Dettingen, 27th June 1743, when a victory 
was gained over the French, commanded by the Duke 
de Noailles. In the course of the war, Marshal Saxe, 
an eminent French commander, was actively engaged. 
He was a natural son of Augustus II., Elector of 
Saxony, who succeeded Lesczynski on the throne of 
Poland. Naturalised as a Frenchman, he distinguished 
himself as the greatest military genius of his age. More 
than a match for the English under the Duke of 
Cumberland, he gained several brilliant victories for the 
French and their allies, of which we need only mention 



1756.] SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 117 

that of Fontenoy, nth May 1745. A general pacifica- 
tion took place by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, 
when Maria Theresa was confirmed in her rights. 

From the time he lost Cardinal Fleury, Louis XV. 
employed several successive prime-ministers, but he had 
sunk under the influence of Madame de Pompadour, 
who for a time was the real ruler of France, and caused 
an immense misexpenditure of the public money. War 
broke out again with Britain concerning the boundaries 
of Acadia (Nova Scotia), and the erection by the French 
of forts along the Ohio and Mississippi, to connect 
Canada with Louisiana. The war was for some time 
prosecuted with considerable vigour. In 1756 began 
the ' Seven Years' War/ in which Maria Theresa endea- 
voured, with the assistance of Russia, to recover Silesia, 
which had been wrested from her in the Austrian 
Succession War by Frederick the Great of Prussia. 
France formed an alliance with Austria, contrary 
to the policy of ages. Britain sided with Prussia, 
and here was a fresh incitement to hostilities. The 
interference of Louis XV. in this Austro-Prussian quarrel 
is imputed to Madame de Pompadour, who, in her 
unregulated caprices, was seriously imperilling the inter- 
ests of France. Everything seemed to be abandoned 
to her direction ; and as she disposed of the command 
of the French armies at her pleasure, success did not 
attend their operations. 

It is melancholy to consider what mischiefs were 
brought on a great nation, by a series of profligate 
females being suffered to interfere in counselling and 
directing the public administration. That fatal Seven 
Years' War led the French with rapid strides on the 
road to ruin. The state of the finances, the dispirited 



n8 FRANCE. 

condition of the army, and the outcry of the distressed 
people, were not sufficient to induce the king to make 
peace; but with a degree of infatuation, and governed by 
i Madame de Pompadour, he obstinately persevered in the 
war. The British forces inflicted territorial losses on the 
French which they never recovered. The English, who 
had been hitherto a feeble power in India, established their 
predominance, when Clive gained the battle of Plassey, 
23d June 1757, as a result of which the French footing 
in India shrunk to insignificant dimensions. On the 1st 
August 1759, the English, Hessians, and Hanoverians 
gained a victory at Minden over the French, who suffered 
severely on the occasion. At the same time, the British, 
by sea and land, were capturing French possessions in the 
West Indies and Canada. The greatest of their victories 
was that achieved by Wolfe, at Quebec, 13th September 
1759. The consequence of this victory, in which Wolfe 
was unfortunately killed, was that Canada was ultimately 
attached to the British crown. Repeated and humili- 
ating losses at length disposed Louis XV. for peace, 
which was settled by the treaty of Paris in 1763. So 
ended the most unfortunate war in which, till this time, 
France had ever been engaged. 

In the early part of the war, an attempt was made by 
a man named Damiens to assassinate Louis XV. The 
motives which led him to this were not well understood. 
He himself alleged that it was the imperious conduct 
of the king towards the Parliament ; with greater prob- 
ability he, like Ravaillac, was governed by a maniacal 
impulse. On the 5th January 1757, having gone to 
Versailles on the previous day, he assiduously followed 
the king and his courtiers about everywhere ; and about 
six o'clock at night, when the king was entering his 



1764.] THE JESUITS BANISHED. 119 

carriage to leave Trianon — a small palace in the park 
of Versailles — he aimed at him with a dagger, and 
managed to stab him, but not mortally. The king 
recognised the assassin, and Damiens was seized. As 
in the case of Ravaillac, the punishment inflicted on 
him was horrible. The hand by which he attempted 
the murder was burned at a slow fire ; the fleshy parts 
of his body were torn off by pincers ; and finally he 
was dragged about by horses, while molten lead, resin, 
oil, and boiling wax were poured into his wounds. 
Towards night the poor wretch expired, having, by an 
effort of will almost superhuman, kept his resolution of 
not confessing who were his accomplices — if, indeed, he 
had any. His remains were immediately burned; his 
house was destroyed ; his father, wife, and mother were 
banished from France for ever; and his brothers and 
sisters compelled to change their names. 

Madame de Pompadour tried to lessen the odium 
which she had popularly incurred, by a persecution of 
the Jesuits. Urged by her, and with the assent of the 
prime-minister, the Duke de Choiseul, the king banished 
them from France in 1764, greatly to the satisfaction of 
the Parliament of Paris. This was her last act; she 
died the same year. Recent investigations among official 
papers make it appear that, during the years she held an 
underhand sway, she spent of public money 36,000,000 
livres, a sum equal to ^1,427,438 sterling. At her 
death, her place was taken by Madame du Barry, a 
woman still more dissolute and worthless, and who, 
during her career of five years, went far beyond her 
predecessor in her wastefulness of public money, 
notwithstanding the exceeding embarrassment of the 
finances. The gifts of Louis XV. to her amounted to 



120 FRANCE. 

a sum so enormous as would appear inconceivable, 
unless it had been ascertained, in explanation of various 
outlays of this nature, that ^20,000,000 of the national 
debt of France had been incurred for expenses too 
ignominious to bear the light. 

Since the regency of Orleans, public morals had been 
gradually deteriorating, not only from the evil example 
set by the sovereign and his companions, but from 
the deliberately mischievous writings of certain men 
of genius, against which there was, unfortunately, no 
proper counteracting power. The expulsion of Protest- 
ant preachers by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
and the divisions arising from the Jansenist controversy, 
are admitted to have extinguished rivalry in pulpit 
eloquence, and introduced a benumbing indifference 
into the Gallican church. Formerly, there had been at 
least a semblance of respect for religion. Excepting in 
rural districts under the charge of painstaking cure's, and 
where there happened still to be a local gentry, there was 
now a boastful scepticism and infidelity, harrowing up all 
that was venerated or that formed the foundation of 
morals. Addressed to a people so impressionable, and 
so unacquainted with the practice of self-government as 
the French, the works of some authors did harm, 
though not written with any absolutely bad intention. 

At the head of the list of writers in the reign of Louis 
XV. stands conspicuous the Baron de Montesquieu. His 
great work, on which he had been engaged twenty years, 
was the Esprit des Lois, exhibiting the relation between 
the laws of different countries, and their local and 
social circumstances. It set people thinking, and was 
immensely popular. Translated into different languages, 
it may be said to have been the first work in which 



1770.] ROUSSEAU AND VOLTAIRE, 121 

the questions of civil liberty were treated in an 
enlightened and systematic manner. The views which 
it set forth on the rights and duties of different classes 
of society, naturally roused the angry passions of the 
oppressed lower orders. The philosophical speculations 
of Montesquieu were followed up by the wild theories of 
Rousseau on the dignity and simplicity of untutored 
savage life, and the perfectibility of human nature. The 
work defining his philosophical doctrines was the 
Contrat Social, a book less reprehensible than those 
writings of a lighter kind, which were entirely subversive 
of moral obligations, and recognised no higher standard 
than human inclinations. His own sense of duty and 
self-respect might be inferred from the fact, that he paid 
no attention to his children, but sent the whole of them 
to a foundling hospital The most charitable thing to 
say of Rousseau is, that he was a crazy enthusiast. He 
died in 1778; and the effect of 4ns writings on French 
society is not badly typified at his tomb in the 
Pantheon, where a hand is represented holding out at a 
partially open door a flaming torch to set fire to the 
world. 

Voltaire, who was a contemporary of Rousseau, and 
died the same year, was a voluminous writer with a 
singular versatility of powers, which were exercised with 
equal ease and nearly equal success, on tragedy, satire, 
romance, poetry, history, and philosophy. During his 
long life, he maintained an extraordinary supremacy 
over public opinion. Setting aside revelation, and 
upholding natural religion, his writings, which fascinated 
by their brilliance and vein of mockery and satire, were 
destructive of old established opinions, and materially 
provoked the convulsion which took place a few years 



122 FRANCE. 

after his decease. BufTon helped in the same direction ; 
but he is more favourably known for his Histoire 
JVaturelle, which inaugurated a new era in the literature 
of natural history, and remains a remarkable monument 
of the science and learning of that period. 

The Abbe Raynal, the historian of the two Indies, 
and Helvetius, the author of a treatise on the feelings as 
a source of intellectual activity, were other two of that 
extraordinary sect of philosophers whose writings con- 
tributed to the social derangement. The Abbe Rollin 
distinguished himself by his Histoire A7tcienne, a work 
which, though often inaccurate in narrative, is free from 
any injurious tendency, and was long popular in the 
original as well as in a translated form. Marmontel 
gained celebrity for his Moral Tales, as also for his 
Belisaire (Belisarius) ; his writings, generally inoffensive, 
being well known through translations. 

In 1728 appeared in England the Cyclopcedia of 
Ephraim Chambers, which being translated into French 
by an Englishman named Mills, suggested the Encyclo- 
pedie, which was produced (1751-1772) by a number of 
French men of letters in the reign of Louis XV. The 
founders of this work were Diderot, and D'Alembert, the 
geometer. The Encyclopaedists, or Economists, as they 
were called, upheld every novelty of doctrine in philo- 
sophy and morals. All the important questions of 
social and political economy they treated with a freedom 
formerly unknown. They took care to make no attack 
on the government or the church; had they done so, 
they would have caused alarm, and might soon have 
found themselves inmates of the Bastille. Writing of 
things in the abstract, they escaped this danger ; but 
their theories were easily applicable to the existing 



I75I-I772.] THE ENCYCLOPEDISTS. 123 

condition of society, and stimulative of revolution. 
Strange to say, while aiming at political and religious 
disorganisation, they seemed to take no thought of what 
might be the consequences in a country which had yet 
to learn the simplest elements of civil and religious 
liberty. Incurring no remonstrance, their eloquently 
expressed ideas threw society into a state of mental 
intoxication. People suffered themselves to be carried 
away by theories pleasing to the imagination, and so 
went drifting on, they cared not whither. 

It gives us a curious insight into the state of affairs in 
France at the middle of the eighteenth century, that 
then, thirty to forty years before the event, there was 
in men's minds an apprehension of an approaching 
convulsion. The Earl of Chesterfield, who was well 
acquainted with the condition of France, writes, in 
x 753: 'The confusion in France increases daily; all 
the symptoms which I have ever met with in history 
previous to great changes and revolutions in government 
now exist, and daily increase, in France.' When David 
Hume was in Paris, from 1763 to 1766, as secretary to 
Lord Hertford's embassy, he became acquainted with 
Turgot, with whom, next to D'Alembert, he formed the 
closest friendship. Turgot, in his letters to Hume, 
predicts, from the disorganised and menacing condition 
of French society, the storm that was to come. In one 
letter, he notices ' the want of any common principle 
of sympathy and interest connecting the aristocracy 
-with the people,' and reflects on the dangerous conse- 
quences of such a state of matters to the peace of 
Europe. Rousseau, in his Entile, a treatise on educa- 
tion written in 1764, says that all see what is coming: 
6 We are approaching the state of crisis, and the age of 



I2 4 FRANCE. 

revolutions/ With such a concurrence of feeling, how 
strange that a nation so boastful of its intellectual capacity 
should have gone driving stupidly on to destruction ! 
Turgot's remark is valuable. There was a want of 
sympathy, no community of interest ; and the philoso- 
phers, he should have said, were as guilty of this as 
any others. 

Voltaire's character for heartlessness was in a degree 
redeemed by the extraordinary exertions he made on 
one occasion in the cause of humanity and justice. We 
refer to the case of Jean Galas. The dragonnades of 
Louis XIV. had only in outward appearance extinguished 
Protestantism. The faith of the Reformers still lingered 
in the country, and more particularly in the southern 
provinces, notwithstanding the vigilance of the Inquisi- 
tion. During the reign of Louis XV., persecution in 
its more offensive forms had, in a great measure, ceased, 
but the Parliament of Toulouse seized every opportunity 
of visiting with vengeance any one who, coming before 
them, was compromised on the score of religion. In 
Toulouse lived Jean Calas, a respectable draper, sixty- 
three years of age, with his family. They were Pro- 
testants, but not obtrusively so. One of Jean's sons 
having been converted to Roman Catholicism, was sent 
away from home. Shortly afterwards, on the night of 
13th October 1761, the eldest son, a moping melancholy 
youth, committed suicide by hanging himself. All the 
evidence taken on the subject went to prove it was an 
act of self-destruction. A malicious rumour was, however, 
raised that the father had murdered his son to pre- 
vent his adopting the religious opinions of his brother. 
On no proper grounds, Calas was arraigned before the 
Parliament, and this tyrannical and bigoted tribunal, 



1 766. ] A CQ UISITION OF L ORRAIXE. 1 25 

without any proof of the alleged murder, condemned 
the poor man to be executed, in spite of his protestations 
of his entire innocence of the crime. The execution 
was carried out with the usual horrid accompaniments. 
On a scaffold, the bones of his legs, arms, and body 
were broken by a bar of iron ; in this mangled condition, 
in a state of agony, he was exposed on a wheel for the 
space of two hours, and then strangled, his body being 
afterwards burned, and the ashes scattered to the winds. 
Voltaire hearing of this great iniquity, had the courage 
to expose the whole circumstances of the case, and 
denounce it in terms which did him honour. The result 
was an official investigation, and a reversal of the 
sentence by the Conseil Royal of Paris. This was too 
late for any personal benefit to the victim, but it was 
some slight consolation to his family; and the general 
horror of the transaction helped to put an end to the 
persecutions of the Protestants. 

In 1766, the French were gratified by getting Lor- 
raine actually incorporated with the kingdom, Stanis- 
laus, the father of the queen, having died that year. 
It has sometimes been erroneously stated that Lorraine 
came to Louis XV. as the reversionary dowry of 
Maria Lesczynski, daughter of Stanislaus; whereas, as 
has been shewn, it was a piece of territory extorted by 
France from Germany at the adjustment of terms of 
peace, when concluding the war in reference to Poland. 
Another, although a transmarine, addition was made to 
the French dominions by the conquest of the island of 
Corsica from the Genoese, in June 1768. 

Maria Lesczynski did not experience that happiness 
as queen of France which she had anticipated, and to 
which she was reasonably entitled. The neglect and 



126 FRANCE. 

misconduct of the king gave her too much cause for 
concern ; yet, to the world she was a model of pious and 
social virtues, lending dignity to the court, and veiling as 
far as possible the failings of her husband. She had two 
sons and four daughters. The younger son died in 
childhood. The elder son, Louis, the dauphin, died in 
1765, leaving three sons and two daughters. Louis, the 
eldest of these princes, born 23d August 1754, was styled 
Duke de Berry, till, by the death of his father, he became 
dauphin, and immediate heir to the crown. In this 
young prince we are introduced to one who afterwards, 
as Louis XVI., was destined to encounter the political 
storm which was even now accumulating force from the 
profligacies and misexpenditure of his grandfather. The 
queen died in 1768. 

The queen had set a good example to her daughters, 
and at her death they continued to reside, but in a 
retired manner, in the palace of Versailles. At stated 
times, they made ceremonious visits to the king, gener- 
ally for a few minutes on his coming in from hunting, 
which was almost daily. The habits of Louis XV. were 
such as to repel persons of delicate feelings. He prided 
himself on being a good cook, and was acknowledged 
to be clever in preparing certain dishes. His great 
accomplishment, however, was the petty art of cutting, 
off the top of an egg. When he dined in public, he 
always ate eggs, to shew his proficiency; and when, by a 
quick evolution of his knife, he neatly cut off the top of 
his egg y shouts of ' Vive le Roil' rewarded the wonderful 
performance. The evenings he spent in the revelries of 
the Trianon, and in a cluster of buildings in an enclo- 
sure called the Parc-anx-Cerfs (Deer Park). Although 
the dissoluteness of the whole surroundings of the court 



1770.] MARRIAGE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. 127 

was beyond description, to outward and ordinary appear- 
ance 'the strictest ceremonial etiquette was preserved. 
The system of etiquette, which descended to the smallest 
particulars, was such as to be not only at variance with 
all comfort, but so intolerable and ridiculous as to have 
proved a serious vexation to the young Austrian princess, 
who was selected to be the wife of the dauphin. 

Marie Antoinette, archduchess of Austria, was the 
youngest daughter of the Emperor Francis of Lorraine 
and Maria Theresa. She was born on the 2d November 
1755, an( i was educated so as to perfect her in the 
French language. At fifteen years of age, and on her 
way to France to be married, she had a foretaste of the 
rigorous etiquette to which she had to submit, on 
arriving at the frontier at Kehl. A superb pavilion had 
been prepared, consisting of two apartments. One of 
these she entered with her attendants from Vienna ; the 
other was appropriated to the Countess de Noailles, 
who was to be her lady of honour, and other ladies of 
her bedchamber. Stripped of the whole of her German 
attire in the first apartment, the intermediate door was 
thrown open, and she entered the other, where she was 
received and dressed in the garments of France. Her 
marriage with the dauphin took place on 10th May 
1770. Great were the rejoicings in Paris on the occa- 
sion 3 but unfortunately, by reason of a scaffold for fire- 
works catching fire, there was a wild commotion, which 
caused the death of fifty-three persons. Greatly shocked 
with the occurrence, the dauphin and dauphiness sent 
the whole of their income for a year to relieve the 
unfortunate families who had suffered losses by the 
catastrophe. 

Instead of residing apart from the royal family, as one 



128 FRANCE. 

would naturally suppose they should, the dauphin and 
dauphiness, with their attendants, increased the estab- 
lishment in the capacious palace of Versailles. Here, 
for society, they had the princesses, daughters of the 
king, the two brothers of the dauphin, and his two 
sisters, the ladies Clotilde and Elizabeth, who were still 
in the care of their governess, Madame de Marsan. 
Clotilde was afterwards married to the Prince of Pied- 
mont, who became king of Sardinia. The gentle and 
affectionate Madame Elizabeth remained unmarried, 
and, as we shall see, was involved in the unhappy fate 
which overtook the royal family. Though living at 
Versailles, the dauphin and dauphiness kept scrupulously 
aloof from the worthless associates of the king. Their 
lives were untainted by the slightest indiscretion, and 
they took no part whatever in any public affairs. From 
the autocratic nature of the government, the dauphin, 
unfortunately, had no opportunity of gaining experience 
in the business of legislation, nor of exchanging ideas 
with public men on matters of importance to the 
community. 

It was the privilege of princes of the blood to be 
members of the Parliament of Paris, and of the other 
parliaments which existed throughout the country. A 
contest, however, had arisen between the king and the 
Parliament of Paris in 1770, which resulted in the 
Parliament resolving not to register a certain royal edict, 
and, rather than do so, it closed its sittings. The king, 
by armed force, endeavoured to get the members individu- 
ally to return to their duty. They still disobeyed, and 
the whole were banished to different towns and villages. 
The parliaments of Rouen, Besangon, Bordeaux, Aix, 
Toulouse, and Brittany taking part with the Parliament 



I774-] DEA TH 0F LOUIS XV. 129 

of Paris, the whole of them were suppressed. Thus the 
only semblance of restraint on autocratic power dis- 
appeared, and had Louis, the dauphin, been so disposed, 
he could not have let his voice be heard in any public 
arena. 

A ministry was formed under the Duke d'Aiguillon, 
every member of which was an enemy of the parlia- 
ments, and an object of popular detestation. Immersed 
in sensual indulgences and trifling amusements — daily 
widening the sphere of court demoralisation — the king 
was indifferent to the discontent of the people, and to 
the general misery which prevailed. When told of the 
ruin of the country, he only remarked that the monarchy 
would last his time. That time came to a close sooner 
than he expected. Early in May 1774, he was attacked 
by confluent small-pox of the worst kind, and lay in 
his apartment at Versailles nigh unto death. Madame 
du Barry and other depraved associates fled; and the 
daughters of the dying king, encountering the most 
fetid atmosphere, alone had the courage to attend upon 
him.. Crowds of courtiers hovered about the palace, 
waiting to know the result. Sometimes they servilely 
came to the apartments of the dauphin and dauphiness 
to worship the rising sun. Then, on some slight intelli- 
gence that the king was reviving, they would rush back 
again, and leave the prince and princess to themselves. 

Louis XV. at length died on the 10th May 1774. 
Madame Campan, in her Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, 
gives a graphic account of the scene on the occasion. 
' The dauphin and dauphiness were together, expecting 
the intelligence of the death of the king. A dreadful 
noise, absolutely like thunder, was heard in the outer 
apartment : it was the crowd of courtiers who were 

1 



130 FRANCE. 

deserting the dead sovereign's ante-chamber, to come 
and bow to the new power of Louis XVI. This ex- 
traordinary tumult informed Marie Antoinette and her 
husband that they were to reign ; and by a spontaneous 
movement, which deeply affected those around them, 
they threw themselves on their knees, and both, with 
emotion, exclaimed : " O God ! guide us, protect us ; 
we are too young to govern." ' 



CHAPTER XL 

LOUIS XVI. — 1774 TILL MEETING OF THE STATES- 
GENERAL, 1789. 

Tl THEN Louis XVI. ascended the throne by the 
death of his grandfather in 1774, he was twenty 
years of age, and Marie Antoinette, the queen, was one 
year younger. Neither was practically acquainted with 
public affairs. Louis had a somewhat bulky figure, but 
he possessed a pleasing countenance, was humane in 
disposition, and of unimpeachable morals. In his 
habits he was retiring and studious. He had been well 
educated, and was a proficient in Latin and English. 
He had a taste for mechanical pursuits, and, working 
at a private forge, he was a good locksmith. In all 
respects amiable, and economical in his expenditure, he 
would have adorned a private station ; but, deficient in 
self-reliance and force of will, as well as practically 
unskilled in public policy, he was unfitted to encounter 
or to control the revolution about to burst on the 
country. 

Although Marie Antoinette did all in her power to 
merit popular favour, she experienced a general dislike. 
There was a hatred of Austria, of which she came in for 
a share. About the court, she gave offence by trying to 
set aside or modify the excessive etiquette which kept 



FRANCE. 

, a state of perpetual thraldom. She was not 
jwed to put on a single article of attire with her own 
nands, or even without the intervention of a series of 
honorary servants, each of whom had a distinct duty. 
In dressing, one would take up the chemise, and hand 
it to another, who would put it on the queen. One 
would pour water on her hands ; another would hold the 
towel wherewith to dry them. One had the right to put 
on the petticoat; another the gown. Gloves, shawls, 
head-dress were all subject to rules. Sitting, walking, 
riding, standing, all had their regulations ; and visiting 
and receiving visits, even so much as speaking to any 
one, were matters of high concern. At table, dishes 
were presented as if to a divinity — the attendants humbly 
kneeling on a foot-stooL At much of this the queen 
laughed, and often protested, for which she gained not 
a little ill-will from a number of the courtiers. 

These puerilities were significant of the frivolous 
manners and usages of the age. The formal costume of 
the reign of Louis XIV. still held sway. The philo- 
sophers who rapturously applauded the virtues of un- 
tutored nature, did not neglect to adorn their own 
persons with queues, hair-powder, frills, and shoe-buckles. 
Ladies were still enveloped in hoops; their coiffure, 
towering with feathers, was powdered and frizzled to an 
extraordinary height. Both sexes wore paint and patches 
on the face to heighten the complexion. The wearing 
of swords by civilians was a frequent subject of debate ; 
to do so was alleged to be an exclusive privilege of the 
noblesse. The whole routine of affairs tended to 
accommodate and exalt this nominally superior order, 
and to depress the general population. The streets 
were unprovided with foot-ways, and pedestrians were 



77741 LOUIS XVI. 133 

constantly exposed to danger from the carriages, which 
were driven from side to side at pleasure. 

The assumptions of the noblesse, and the differences 
amongst them as to rank, were a fertile source of discord. 
There was an old noblesse and a new noblesse. There 
was a noblesse de P'epee (of the sword), and a noblesse 
de la robe (of the gown). The old noblesse affected to 
trace their origin to the great feudatories in the early- 
days of the monarchy. Some of them still possessed 
estates, from which they drew rents ; but many of them 
were patrimonially poor, and trusted to employment in 
the army, or to get small offices at court. It is true, 
there were antiquated laws to prevent the noblesse from 
engaging in trade. These laws, however, might easily 
have been set aside if there had been any anxious desire 
tQ do so. Except in Brittany, where there was less 
pride of birth, the noblesse would almost have died 
rather than betake themselves to any ordinary line of 
industry; but did not think it derogatory to make a 
living by keeping a gambling-house, or to hang about 
the court fulfilling such duties as handing a towel to the 
king, or helping him to pull on his coat. 

The nobles of this ancient class were scandalised by 
the introduction into their order of families whp, by the 
acquisition of wealth, had bought estates, and acquired 
patents of nobility. They looked down still more upon 
men who had been ennobled as statesmen, lawyers, and 
magistrates. These were the noblesse of the robe, 
parvenus, who should be taught to keep their proper 
distance. Beneath the whole in social estimation 
were the unprivileged orders — the tiers-etat, or third 
estate— the plebeian multitude, which included pro- 
fessional men of different kinds — merchants, traders, 



134 FRANCE. 

and artisans. The term tiers-Hat had, however, gone 
out of use, from the circumstance that the States- 
general was now a forgotten institution. It had 
become the custom for the noblesse to speak of all 
below them as roturiers. In the disquisitions on the 
history of the period, the phrase roturier is frequently 
employed. It is derived from roture, freshly broken- 
up land (Latin, ruptura), and strictly signified a labourer 
on the soil. In time, it came to be applied to all 
who wrought with their hands, and even, in a con- 
temptuous sense, to all who followed any occupation 
requiring personal skill and diligence. The world, i T i 
short, was divided into two orders of human beings-* j 
noblesse and roturiers; a roturier being one who was 
only fit to pay taxes, which the noblesse might somehow 
contrive to live upon. 

In these fantastic notions of the high noblesse may 
be recognised, not merely a mental weakness, but a 
great political blunder. This will be best understood by 
comparing the principles and practice of aristocracy in 
France and England. In France, the aristocratic order 
repelled the advances of those commoners who might be 
raised to an equality with them in rank. In England, 
on the contrary, the aristocratic order has ever been 
eminently absorptive, and cordially receives into its 
bosom all who, by fortune and the favour of the sove- 
reign, are elevated to the peerage. In France, the 
noblesse had sunk to the condition of a caste useless in 
the body politic. Richelieu, in withdrawing them from 
their rural possessions, had assigned them nothing to do. 
They might get posts in the army, or at court, and fill the 
higher benefices in the church; that was all. As a conse- 
quence, matters of provincial administration were placed 



I774-] THE NOBLESSE. 135 

in the hands of intendants and sub-intendants appointed 
by the king and his council of state. This species of 
centralisation had now existed two hundred and fifty 
years; the country was accustomed to it long before 
the Revolution, though it then assumed a permanently 
intensified form. Contrast this with the state of things 
in England, where the landed nobility and gentry per- 
form a variety of duties to help on the business of the 
country, without so much as a thought of payment. 
They act as county magistrates, commissioners of supply, 
trustees of roads, members of police and prison boards, 
presidents of agricultural associations, and so forth. 
Besides residing less or more on their estates, and 
giving a dignity to local society, they take part in the 
work of legislation — -the hereditary nobility in the House 
of Lords, their sons and other descendants emulous of 
being elected to the House of Commons. 

The contrast may be advantageously carried still 
further. By the law of primogeniture, the younger 
members of the families of the aristocracy in England 
merge into the ordinary ranks of society ; and the titled 
order is comparatively limited. In France, previous to 
the Revolution, all the members of the aristocratic 
families claimed to belong to the noblesse; and the 
number of the whole is said to have been above 150,000, 
who, by the industrious orders, were looked upon as 
so many drones, who lived upon and embarrassed the 
community. To men of genius and fortune of the so- 
called roturier class, the overbearing insolence of these 
titled idlers was peculiarly provoking, and engendered 
an animosity which afterwards led to scenes of outrage. 

A similar grudge was entertained against the higher 
order of the clergy, who were all connected with the 



136 FRANCE. 

noblesse, and enjoyed privileges as regards taxation 
which threw additional burdens on the general com- 
munity. The church was on an extravagant footing. 
It comprehended 18 archbishops, no bishops, 5500 
canons; upwards of 1400 abbeys, priories, and nun- 
neries; and 35,000 parish priests or curds. The annual 
income of the whole amounted to 130,000,000 livres, or 
^5,154,639 sterling. Two-thirds of all the land in the 
country belonged to the noblesse and the clergy, and 
both were exempted from several direct taxes. Unitedly, 
their exemptions are said to have amounted to about 
^7,000,000 per annum. 

The system of taxation was to the last degree odious. 
The various imposts were not levied by collectors 
appointed by the government, but by a privileged 
association, the members of which were styled farmers- 
general, whose functions resembled those of the Roman 
publicans mentioned in Scripture. The association leased 
the taxes for a certain sum annually, and all that was 
gathered over this stipulated amount was profit, and 
paid the expenses of collection. At one period, the 
leasing was matter of public competition ; but latterly, 
the members of the association, sixty in number, were 
selected by the minister of finance — his choice being 
regulated by the amount of bribe or present which was 
offered to him. Generally, shares in the concern were 
assigned by the king to his favourites, male and female. 
The collection from the unhappy tax-payers was made 
with relentless severity, in order to swell the amount of 
profit ; and the excess of what was gathered by these 
farmers-general over what they paid into the treasury 
was enormous. 

The taxes on land were of various denominations, 



1774-3 FEUDAL BURDENS. 137 

the principal being the vingtiemes and taille, producing 
nearly ;£6,ooo,ooo. Of all the taxes on consumption, that 
which pressed most cruelly on the poor was the gabelle' 
or salt-tax, which altogether amounted to ^2,562,000 
per annum. The impost varied in different provinces. 
Those that were most heavily taxed were called pays, 
de grande gabelle, and those that were least heavily 
taxed were called pays de petite gabelle. This inequality 
led to smuggling from one province to another, for 
which contraband trade, dogs were trained to carry small 
parcels of salt, tied round their neck, by lonely paths 
across the frontiers during night. The gabelle, both 
small and great, was a source of extreme discontent, and 
helped materially to bring on the Revolution. 

In some districts, great distress was experienced by 
farmers and peasants from the corvees, or obligations 
to labour compulsorily on the roads, bridges, or other 
public works, for certain or uncertain periods, without 
payment. There were heavy complaints on this score, 
which were disregarded, although there were instances 
of all the farmers in a district being utterly ruined by 
this species of tyranny. The petty feudal burdens 
imposed on the land in various districts were almost 
endless in number, and caused incessant irritation. 
Worst of all, large tracts of country were constituted 
capitaineries by the king, in favour of princes of the 
blood and others, irrespective of all private rights. A 
capitainerie was, properly speaking, a game preserve. 
In it droves of wild-boars and herds of deer might roam 
at pleasure, and any one who presumed to obstruct or 
kill them, to save food for his family, was liable to be 
sent to the galleys. The picture of rural wretchedness 
is completed by the fact, that among the peasantry there 



138 FRANCE. 

were 150,000 serfs who had no rights whatever, but 
were bought and sold with the land on which they were 
born. 

If kings, nobility, and clergy were, as is thought, 
accountable for bringing society into this defective and 
perilous condition, can we, with any regard to justice, 
hold the roturier class excusable? Seigneurs might 
oppress the peasantry, but the trade guilds were equally 
tyrannical by their restrictions on the freedom of labour. 
Dearths occurred as frequently from false notions of 
political economy based on selfishness, as from natural 
causes. Up even to the Revolution, there were demands 
that the transport of corn from one province to another 
should be prohibited. 

Nothing in town or country appears to have been done 
with a view to the common welfare. The nation was a 
jumble of selfish interests, hatreds, and jealousies, ever 
ready to burst like an explosive chemical compound. 
Colbert endeavoured to remedy many of the gross 
abuses in trade and commerce ; and with what gratitude 
was he rewarded ? At his decease, his funeral was only 
saved from popular outrage by a military escort. There 
had occasionally been exasperating discussions on the 
constitution ; there had been armed violence in the 
streets, insurrections, and murder; but we have not, 
in the whole history of the French, from the reign 
of Hugh Capet, anything like a calm consideration 
of the political circumstances of the country. Every- 
thing takes place by fits and starts. There is an 
ebullition, and, for the time, it is all over. A fresh 
novelty sends the national mind into a new direction. 
It is not a little unjust for historians to accumulate 
reproaches exclusively on the noblesse and the church, 



1774-1 LOUIS XVI 139 

or on this or that minister. Without extenuating their 
errors and follies — but rather holding them up to repro- 
bation — there can be no reasonable doubt that the 
roturiers were themselves greatly to blame for the bitter 
misfortunes which fell upon France. 

The crimes, errors, follies of a thousand years, like a 
long run up and unpaid bill, now confronted Louis XVI., 
who was wholly guiltless of any political or moral mis- 
demeanour. He was, however, afforded an opportunity 
of redressing, as far as in his power, the grievances 
under which the country was suffering. From what has 
been above stated, France undoubtedly had good reason 
to ask for various administrative and constitutional 
reforms, deserving the most earnest attention of any one 
charged with the high responsibilities of a sovereign. 
The inequality of taxation, the method of extorting taxes 
by farmers-general, the gabelle, the corvees, the feudal 
burdens, the capitaineries, the existence of serfdom, and 
the narrow policy connected with trade and commerce, 
were all matters to be gravely considered and redressed. 
No doubt there were practical difficulties in the way, 
but we have no evidence that Louis XVI. took any 
trouble to look into and realise the perilous state of 
affairs, with a view to some great and conciliatory act 
of reform. He amused himself in hunting, or making 
locks, when he might have been devising means to 
satisfy such demands of his people as were at all 
reasonable. 

At this time there was no want of clever men with 
a talent for conversation and the expounding of theories. 
The Palais -Royal swarmed with orators who would 
have undertaken to remodel the universe. The only 
scarcity were men of practical understanding who could 



140 FRANCE. 

assist the king in his difficulties ; but, as we shall imme- 
diately see, when he was so fortunate as to get minis- 
ters of this stamp, he had not the art to keep them. 
He was unfortunate, or, more correctly speaking, careless 
in his first choice of a prime-minister. He selected 
an old courtier, named Maurepas, under whom were 
Malesherbes and Turgot, with some others of lesser 
ability. Malesherbes was an eminent lawyer, and of 
upright principles. Turgot, equally honest, possessed 
advanced views of political economy, with a knowledge of 
finance, and, as has been mentioned, sagaciously foresaw 
what was likely to be the fate of the nation. Soon the 
young king experienced the troubles of sovereignty. 
The Parliament of Paris had been dispersed by Louis 

XV. for its contempt of the royal authority. Louis 

XVI. was now urged to recall that body, and the 
ministry joining in the request, the Parliament was 
restored to its functions. It was a popular act, but 
attended with such consequences ^s might have been 
anticipated from establishing a power determined to 
thwart every fiscal measure which it capriciously thought 
objectionable. No opposition was offered to the remis- 
sion of the most odious taxes ; but when Turgot pro- 
posed that the noblesse and the clergy should contribute 
to the revenue of the country in the same proportion 
as the roturiers, he met with the most determined 
opposition. 

While he was in office, this able minister effected 
several reforms, notwithstanding the powers arrayed 
against him. He lessened the public debt, and aimed 
at making the revenue cover the expenditure ; and it is 
matter for sincere regret that he was not encouraged to 
proceed in his designs to extirpate the abuses which 



1778.] TREATY WITH AMERICA. 141 

obstructed the material prosperity of the country. 
Malesherbes was not more successful in furthering 
measures connected with his department. Mortified 
and offended, both ministers resigned; Malesherbes in 
March, and Turgot in April, 1776. Maurepas now 
introduced Necker, and he became director-general of 
the finances. He was by birth a Swiss; was able, 
honest, generous in disposition ; but as a public man, he 
rendered himself ridiculous by his inordinate vanity, 
and was dangerous as an adviser, for he cherished those 
extravagant notions respecting social regeneration, which 
had been heedlessly promulgated by the Economists. 

At this time, England was in the midst of its unfor- 
tunate contest with the American colonies. The 
French, unmindful of the disordered state of the 
finances, and thinking this a favourable opportunity to 
take a revenge for Wolfe's victory at Quebec, as well as 
for damaging British interests, entered into a treaty, 
offensive and defensive, with the colonists ; and a 
war with England immediately followed, 1778. This 
uncalled-for war was greatly against the wish of Louis 
XVI. He had to yield to the outburst of enthusiasm 
which affected all classes; French forces were sent to 
America, accompanied by the Marquis Lafayette, Count 
de Rochambeau, and other generals. The war with 
England lasted five years, during which the British 
naval forces, under Howe and Rodney, against the 
combined fleets of France and Spain, gained the most 
brilliant successes. The crowning triumph of the 
British arms was the successful defence of Gibraltar, by 
General Elliot, during a siege of three years, seven 
months, and twelve days. The attempts to capture the 
fortress by a bombardment from floating batteries were 



142 FRANCE. 

completely baffled ; the batteries were destroyed by red- 
hot shot ; and the poor fellows who had manned them 
were, while struggling in the water, humanely rescued 
by Brigadier Curtis and a devoted band of followers. 
The siege was brought to a close on the termination of 
hostilities by the peace of Versailles, 20th January 1783 ; 
the first to compliment General Elliot on his gallant 
defence being the French commander, the Duke de 
Crillon. 

The war added prodigiously to the financial embar- 
rassments of France. There was no other resource but 
borrowing; the hopeless political condition of affairs 
being at the same time aggravated by admiration of 
those republican principles which had been spread by 
the American contest. Lafayette became the object of 
extravagant eulogy, and the fermentation reached an 
extraordinary height when the celebrated Benjamin 
Franklin arrived in Paris as a commissioner plenipoten- 
tiary from the United States. Madame Campan gives a 
lively picture of the reception given to Franklin. ' He 
appeared at court/ she says, i in the costume of an 
American farmer : his lank unpowdered hair, round hat, 
and drab coat, contrasted oddly with the embroidered 
and bespangled dresses, the full-blown and perfumed 
perukes, of the courtiers of Versailles. This novelty 
charmed the dizzy heads of all the French women. 
Elegant fetes were given in honour of one who united 
the distinction of a great natural philosopher with the 
patriotic virtues which had prompted him to embrace 
the noble part of an apostle of liberty. I was present at 
one of these fetes, in which the most beautiful of three 
hundred women was selected to affix on the gray hairs 
of the American philosopher a crown of laurel, and on 



1787.], MEETING OF NOTABLES. 143 

his cheeks a couple of kisses. Even in the palace of 
Versailles, at the exhibition of Sevres porcelain, under 
the very eyes of the king, a medallion of Franklin was 
sold bearing this inscription : " Eripuit cmlo fulmen scep- 
trumque tyrannis" (" He tore the thunderbolt from the 
skies, and the sceptre from tyrants ").' 

Driven to desperation by the state of the finances, 
Necker tried economy. As in the case of Turgot, he 
was assailed by all who flourish on abuses. He felt 
affronted, and resigned, May 1781. Maurepas died 
the same year, and M. de Vergennes was appointed 
his successor. This was a minister of superior ability, 
but he was distracted on all hands for want of funds 
to carry on the public business. A young financier, 
D'Ormesson, was brought to his aid ; he failed in 
his attempts, and his place was filled with Calonne, a 
bold, ambitious man, who tried an entirely new policy, 
which consisted in spending -money on large public 
works, in order to give a grand idea of national pros- 
perity, and sustain public credit. One of his under- 
takings was that of commencing the magnificent 
harbours and breakwater at Cherbourg. All these 
ingenious schemes were unavailing, and Calonne had 
candidly to tell Louis XVI. that he could see no means 
to make the revenue cover the expenditure, unless the 
privileged orders would submit to an equitable system 
of taxation ; and, to induce them to do so, he suggested 
the assembling of the Notables. 

The Notables, 137 in number, besides seven royal 
princes, were chiefly of the privileged classes — titled 
peers, noblesse, high clergy, and presidents of parlia- 
ment. They met 22d February 1787, when Calonne 
laid a faithful financial statement before them, and, in 



144 FRANCE. 

eloquent terms, implored them to save the country from 
bankruptcy by assenting to his proposed method of 
taxation. He encountered violent opposition. The 
correctness of his statements was challenged. All were 
against him — the noblesse and clergy, because they 
would not be taxed in the same proportion as others ; 
and the roturiers and populace generally, because they 
disliked being told how much of the national debt had 
been incurred for wars into which they had impelled 
the country. Before going farther, it will be interesting 
to know something definite respecting the state of the 
finances, at or shortly after the disclosures of Calonne, 
for on this almost everything turns. 

In round numbers, the national debt amounted to 
^240,000,000 sterling, the annual interest on which 
was ;£i 0,000,000. The annual expenditure, including 
payment of interest, was ^26, 400,000. The annual 
income was ^18,800,000. The annual deficit, accord- 
ingly, was ^7,600,000. One year with another, and 
making some allowance for an expected improvement 
in public credit and increase in the revenue, Calonne 
was satisfied that an addition for only a few years of 
^6,000,000 per annum would rectify affairs. Can it 
be believed that France was unable to undertake 
this additional obligation? At this period, the popula- 
tion was 26,000,000. Agriculture was certainly back- 
ward, and the farmers poor; but several large and 
thriving towns had sprung up ; manufactures were 
extending. There was a large fleet of vessels engaged 
in commerce. To St Domingo alone, a valuable posses- 
sion in the West Indies, there were annual exports 
amounting to ^10,000,000. And the whole of these 
elements of prosperity, and many more that we have 



1787.] PARLIAMENT EXILED. 145 

not space to enumerate, were to be jeopardised, society- 
convulsed, and the monarchy destroyed, for lack of an 
additional revenue of ^6,000,000 per annum, which 
the country, by judicious arrangements, was perfectly 
able to pay ! Was ever a great nation ruined from a 
cause so pitiable ? 

Vergennes died in February 1787, and was succeeded 
by Montmorin. Calonne was paid for his candour by 
being dismissed. His place was filled by a man of 
worthless character, Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse, 
who was raised to be president of' the council. , He was 
as unable as Calonne to bring the Notables to reason, 
and the assembly of that body was closed 25th May 
1787. Brienne had only one course left ; it was, to 
issue arbitrary edicts of taxation, and get them registered 
by the Parliament. He sent an edict imposing an 
additional stamp-duty. It was rejected thrice, on the 
ground that the tax would require the sanction of the 
States-general. An edict to equalise the taxes on land 
shared the same fate. Resolved to vindicate the king's 
authority, the minister, by royal edict, exiled the Parlia- 
ment to Troyes, and thither was despatched the Count 
d'Artois to hold a bed of justice and enforce the regis- 
tration. The edicts were registered, but under protest, 
2 2d August 1787. Shortly afterwards, the Parliament 
returned to Paris, and, by a compromise, the enforced 
edicts were withdrawn, and one authorising equality of 
taxation on land, registered in their place. 

This state of concord was very brief. To relieve 
pressing necessities, Brienne proposed to borrow 
^17,000,000; and, on submitting an edict for the 
purpose, the Parliament peremptorily refused its registra- 
tion. There was now a distinct collision with the royal 

J 



146 FRANCE. 

authority. D'Espremenil and Goislard de Montsabert, 
two councillors who led the opposition, were seized, 
the former being banished to St Marguerite, an island 
near Hieres, and the latter conducted to Pierre Encise. 
To allay the public fermentation, the king, in May 
1788, assembled the Parliament at Versailles, and, 
expressing his extreme regret for having been obliged 
to resort to measures of severity, pointed out the neces- 
sity for providing funds to carry on the government. 
He then, in a bed of justice, caused six edicts to be 
registered, enforcing a number of changes in connection 
with the Parliament of Paris, and the various provincial 
courts. One of these edicts related to the establishment 
of a new court, to be called the Cour Plenilre, which 
was to exercise the political power of the parliaments ; 
another, by the erection of new judicial tribunals in 
different towns and districts, lessened the jurisdiction of 
the parliaments, particularly that of Paris — reserving 
only to these bodies the decision of criminal cases 
affecting the privileged classes, and the determination of 
civil processes above a certain fixed amount. 

Instead of allaying the public excitement, these 
proceedings produced a universal storm of indignatien. 
To shew their sympathy with the Parliament of Paris, 
all the other parliaments suspended their sittings, and 
meetings took place in different parts of the country, at 
which oaths were taken to withstand the innovations. 
In various towns there were serious disturbances, and 
symptoms of insubordination were observable in several 
regiments. All classes cried for the meeting of the 
States-general, for that alone would satisfy the country. 
The king felt the struggle to be hopeless against a 
nation almost in open insurrection. On the 8th August 



1 788. ] ASSEMBL Y OF NO TABLES. 147 

\ 
1788, he issued an edict convoking the States-general 

on the 1st May 1789. 

The interval that elapsed till this memorable meeting, 
was one of wild commotion. Paris was agitated with 
the most extravagant anticipations of what would be 
effected by the tiers-etat. The Parliament, while court- 
ing popularity, began to feel some degree of alarm that 
it had perhaps gone too far, and might perish in the 
hurricane it had provoked. The cash in the treasury 
not being equal to more than a single day's expenditure, 
Brienne paid the national creditors with paper-money. 
So loud was now the outcry against him, that he was 
dismissed, and Necker was brought back to power; and 
such was the faith in his financial ability, that the 
national credit immediately revived. Two very import- 
ant matters required consideration — first, the constitu- 
tion of the States-general; and, second, whether the 
method of voting should be by the noblesse and 
clergy and the tiers-etat in separate bodies, or by 
the whole collectively. The Notables met, 3d Novem- 
ber 1788, and, through the persuasions of Necker, 
decreed that the* entire number of members in the 
States-general was to be at least a thousand, and 
that of these the members of the tiers-etat should be 
equal in number to the noblesse and clergy united. 
Scarcely any restriction was imposed as regarded the 
suffrage. All men above twenty-five years of age were 
to be eligible as electors or deputies. Neither was there 
any obligation imposed as to deliberating separately or 
collectively. 

Amidst the whirl of passionate discussion, Louis 
XVI., though of placid temperament, was greatly 
troubled. When attending the funeral of his minister, 



-148 FRANCE. 

Vergennes, he said mournfully that he wished it had 
been his fate to lie down beside him. The queen was 
equally alarmed at the threatening aspect of affairs. 
She had three children, two sons and a daughter, and 
felt the anxieties of a mother. Within a few years, a 
change had come over the gay society of Paris. The 
salons were crowded with politicians of both sexes, 
broaching the most fanciful theories of social reorganisa- 
tion. A kind of political millennium was expected. 
Crime and injustice were to disappear from the 
earth. There was a rage for republican simplicity, 
along with an admiration of English constitutional 
usages and English attire. Round hats and top-boots 
became fashionable, and there was even the daring 
innovation of wearing shoes with ties instead of buckles. 
Some ladies of a masculine turn of mind dismissed hair- 
powder, and let their locks fall in natural tresses. 

As if fate had determined to leave nothing undone to 
produce disorder, it gave to the world a man who, with 
means and opportunities, set himself to destroy the 
monarchy, and to exalt himself on its ruins. We allude 
to Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans, great-grandson of 
the Regent Orleans. By the death of his father in 
1785, he inherited domains and palaces with a princely 
revenue ; and this patrimony was so enormously in- 
creased by his marriage with the daughter of the Duke 
of Penthievre, that his annual income reached nearly 
half a million sterling. The richest man in France, 
he was also the most dissolute and unscrupulous. 
Aiming at the subversion of the reigning branch of the 
Bourbons, and so rising to power, he threw himself into 
the hands of the growing popular party, among whom, 
by subsidies in money and the coarsest revelries, he 



1789.] ELECTION OF STATES-GENERAL. 149 

expected to accomplish his treacherous purposes. 
Under his inspiration, malign scandals were fabricated 
regarding the queen and royal family, plots were hatched 
to undermine the government, and insurrectionary 
excesses covertly promoted in the capital. 

Though immersed in profligacies, the duke, in his 
early married life, had not neglected the education of 
his children, over whom he appointed, as governor and 
instructress, Madame de Genlis, well known for her 
numerous literary productions. One of her pupils was 
the duke's eldest son, who, as Duke de Chartres, took 
some part in the revolutionary troubles, and ultimately 
rose to temporary distinction as Louis-Philippe, king of 
the French. 

Notwithstanding the general fervour, the elections for 
the States-general went off quietly. The members of 
the tiers-etat were almost wholly in the democratic 
interest; a few of the nobles, including the Duke of 
Orleans, and a considerable number of the inferior 
clergy, were similarly so. It was clear that, if the plan 
of deliberating and voting in one body was to be 
adopted, there would be such a preponderance in favour 
of the views of the tiers-etat as to overwhelm the other 
orders. 



CHAPTER XII. 

LOUIS XVI. — THE REVOLUTION, MAY TILL OCTOBER 1789. 

HPHE States-general convoked for the ist May 1789, 
-*• met, after some preliminary ceremonies, on the 
5th of that month. Its place of assemblage was a spa- 
cious hall prepared for the purpose in Versailles. The 
number of members was upwards of eleven hundred. 
There was a vast concourse on the occasion. At one 
end of the hall was a throne for the king, with seats for 
the queen, the princes, princesses, and the councillors 
of state. The clergy had seats on the right, the nobles 
on the left, and the tiers-etat sat in front. The fittings 
of the hall were magnificent. The public, among whom 
were ladies of rank, were accommodated in galleries, 
where they could overlook the proceedings. There was 
nothing wanting to complete the dramatic effect. The 
speech from the throne was listened to with respect, 
and no one, from appearances, could have imagined that 
the assemblage was the beginning of the Revolution. 

Business was postponed till next day; and then 
commenced the tug of war, which was almost inevitable 
in the circumstances. Let us rightly understand why so 
momentous a meeting should have broken into discord. 
Neither the king, as the ruling authority, nor the 
Notables, had prescribed any proper rules of procedure. 
It was not settled whether the whole body of members 



1789.] MEETING OF STATES-GENERAL. 151 

should deliberate and vote collectively, or that the 
orders should do so in separate chambers. There was 
a still greater defect. The States-general, which had 
not met since 1615, had never been what, in England, 
is understood by a legislative body. It was a gathering 
of persons of different orders, who were deputed by 
constituencies to present lists of complaints, which, after 
being debated on, formed the basis of petitions to the 
king, who was the real legislator. These lists of com- 
plaints and suggestions were called cahiers, a term signi- 
fying a small pamphlet (Latin, codicarium, a little book). 
In other words, the States-general was traditionally little 
else than a channel through which public grievances and 
wants were made known to the sovereign, with a view 
to his legislating on the subject. The revival of a body 
possessing so imperfect a constitution, unaccompanied 
with powers adapted to enlightened views of legislation, 
and distinct regulations for its guidance, could scarcely 
fail to be disastrous, in a country unskilled in those 
parliamentary forms which are traceable, through long 
ages in England, to the witenagemots of an Anglo-Saxon 
ancestry. Everything, by the fatal neglect, or over- 
weening confidence of Necker, appears to have been 
left to chance. Even no provision was made for 
verifying the elections previous to assembling. The 
members took their seats before it was absolutely 
established that they had a right to be present. 

On this occasion, the tiers-etat had been furnished 
with cahiers, demanding, among other things, perfect 
equality with the noblesse and clergy, which these orders 
were resolved to resist. Of nobles and clergy there 
were 563, and of tiers-e'tat 567. About half the tiers- 
etat were needy provincial attorneys; the remainder 



152 FRANCE. 

were chiefly merchants and fanners ; and there were few 
men of independent means. 

The more noted members embraced in the three 
orders were the Count Mirabeau, a man of robust 
frame, dissolute in habits, poor from his extravagances, 
devoid of principle, and of great oratorical powers ; the 
Marquis de Lafayette, indecisive, with a mania for 
republicanism; M. Bailly, respected for his scientific 
attainments and uprightness of character, and who 
possessed high hopes of political rectification ; Cler- 
mont Tonnerre, Lally Tollendal, Alexander and Charles 
Lameth, Barnave, and Talleyrand, bishop of Autun. 
There were others, who subsequently became prominent, 
including Robespierre, Sieyes, Petion, and D'Espremenil, 
the last having returned from banishment. 

The verification of the elections was the first business 
taken up ; but the noblesse and clergy having gone to 
sit apart, the tiers-etat declined to proceed until they 
returned to form part of the united body. After a 
miserable contest on this point, which lasted several 
weeks, the tiers-etat, with a confidence sustained by the 
general clamour in their favour, assumed the power to 
act as if it embraced the whole members. It appointed 
Bailly president, and constituted itself the National 
Assembly, without any authority but its own will. The 
excitement in Paris was intense. The presses teemed 
with political pamphlets extolling the tiers-e'tat, and the 
cafes in the Palais-Royal were thronged with orators 
who, with violent gesticulations, addressed multitudes of 
enraptured listeners. 

Arthur Young, an eminent English agriculturist, was 
at this time travelling in France, and has left an account 
of what came under his observation in Paris and 



1789.] CONDUCT OF STATES-GENERAL. 153 

Versailles during the meeting of the Assembly. What 
considerably astonished this unpoetical native of Suffolk 
was the disorderly way in which business was conducted. 
In the Assembly, he says, the spectators in the galleries 
' were allowed to interfere with the debates by clapping 
their hands, and other noisy expressions of approbation 
that were grossly indecent. ' There was likewise a want 
of decorum among the members. 'More than once 
there were a hundred members on their legs at a time, 
and M. Bailly absolutely without power to keep order;' 
all which, he adds, was caused by the want of rules of 
debate, and 'appears preposterous.' This disorderly 
procedure, however, was not singular ; for, on attending 
a meeting of the Royal Society of Agriculture in Paris, 
he says: 'When they discuss or debate, there is no 
order, but all speak together.' Young's conclusions on 
the state of affairs are summed up in a few words : 
' Everything conspires to render the present period in 
France critical.' 

The period was no doubt critical : there was a dearth 
of food ; insurrections broke out in various parts of the 
country; bands of brigands began to levy contributions ; 
the government seemed powerless. Mortified at the 
turn things were taking, Necker wished to resign. Now 
was the time for the king to have shewn any sagacity 
and decision of character. At the instigation of the 
Count d'Artois, he committed the blunder of attempting 
to coerce the Assembly, without the power to cause 
his orders to be executed. He issued a proclamation 
suspending the meetings of the States-general until the 
2 2d June, when he would hold a sitting, till which 
time the hall would be closed. On the 20th, the tiers- 
etat, finding the doors shut and guarded by soldiers, 



154 FRANCE. 

adjourned to a hall used as a royal tennis-court (Jeu de 
paume), and there took an oath never to separate until 
they organised a constitution for the kingdom. Con- 
founded by this procedure, the court postponed the royal 
sitting till the 23d. Turned out of the tennis-court, 
the tiers-etat found an asylum in a church, and here the 
members were joined by the majority of the clergy 
amidst transports of enthusiasm. 

On the 23d, all attended the royal sitting, to hear 
what were the king's intentions. He spoke indiscreetly, 
considering the weakness of his authority. He offered 
to make no changes in the constitution, nor did he 
speak of the vast abuses which stood in need of redress; 
and concluded by commanding the members to deli- 
berate separately, according to their respective orders, 
the following day ; meanwhile they would dismiss. The 
harangue amounted to a species of defiance, and obvi- 
ously threw the duty of carrying out measures of 
constitutional and administrative reform into the hands 
of a set of generally well-meaning, but inexperienced 
and audacious zealots. The king having retired, his 
master of the ceremonies repeated the orders for dis- 
missal. ' Go, tell your master,' exclaimed Mirabeau, 
c that we are here by the command of the people, and 
will not leave unless compelled at the point of the 
bayonet.' The utterance of this discourteous language 
shewed the depth to which the royal authority had fallen. 

Next day, besides the majority of the clergy, forty- 
seven of the nobility joined the tiers-dtat. Further 
resistance was useless. The king exhorted all who 
stood out to relinquish the contest, acting on which 
advice, the whole joined the Assembly on the 27th. 
We may pity the humiliation of the ministry ; but was 



1789.] TRI r * AG INTRODUCED. 155 

not their want c for&ght, in not laying down some 
rules of procedure befc^hand, very much like the con- 
duct of children? Th neglect settled the fate of the 
monarchy. In the pett v. of forms, the tiers-etat was 
triumph and all th; took place afterwards was a 
hurried .01 <?e (Jew The democratic rejoicings 

were be 1 trage, or for the purpose 

of overawing tK ops, including Swiss and 

n ' k regiments oay, were drawn around 

ulles. ckei source of mismanage- 

lissed, ed immediately to quit 

« . nth Julj 

< missal threw Pari into a paroxysm of 

The French Guaids and some otherxregi- 

sed with the pa .here was fighting 

vifh loodsfafid in the s tree, Several prisons were 

l^b , open and felons libera, the 12th and 

pr j^ mmotion continued, T 6tel-de-Ville 

\ e j the focus of an insurrecti ^ower; or, in 

Tig" QS > tne civic magistracy, Vaicfy was bound to 

pel k the peace, sided with Mne party of disorder— a 

^Gcjr'in iiJelf shewing the rottenness of the 

wr e system. In this civic saturnalia, the old white 

fla£ of tha French monarchy was dismissed, and a 

drapeau of red, white, and blue stripes — the now well- 

knewn tricolour — adopted. A militia styled the Burgher, 

but afterwards the National Guard, was organised. 

There was a universal demand for arms, to supply which 

the Hotel des Invalides was pillaged. 

Provided with weapons of different kinds, the cry was 
1 To the Bastille, to the Bastille !' This massive fortress, 
which had long been obnoxious to popular vengeance, 
was attacked on the morning of the 14th July by a 



156 FRANC A i 

raging multitude. It was stout]! defended, and held 
out until the French Guards, abiit two o'clock in the 
afternoon, brought artillery to b^lr on the gates. The 
governor and garrison surfend^d on a guarantee of 
their lives, which was wholly disigarde On the mob 
bursting in, there was a gene * slaughter. All the 
prisoners, seven in number, w fceratea. Flesselles, 
the mayor of Paris, being susp -'« ,i " u a, counselled 

the governor to resistance, vfa Jy murdereu. ^ n( j 

his head paraded through th< streets m a pike. 

When intelligence of the revolt reached Versailles, 
late at night, the court was h coi # nation, th\^ Assembl) 
much ex-' -d. Repents ... and abased, and filling tc 
forget past differences, iouis txt day went\uncere- 
monfously c: t to the A embly, and, asking the 

members to co-operate with him in preserving order, 
was received wit shouts of applause. A deputat^j L 
was appointed tc accompany him to Paris. Bailly 0J 
appointed mayor n place o r Flesselles, and Lafk,.^ 
placed in command of the Burgher Guard. On ^ Q 
17th, the king, accompanied by u>e deputation, visi^ 
Paris. He was received with some ^ernoxisti. 
loyalty at the Hotel, and returned in safety tip "V 
To appease popular clamour, Nl Wiled. 

In the course of these commou >ns the royal family 
suffered a domestic affliction. The dauphin, a c'iiild 
eight years of age, died after a lingering illness. Th^re 
were now only a boy and girl left, and these till th< 
remained the solace of their parents. 

The assertion of independence by the Assembly was 
an example followed by the Parisians, who frar. 
representative system from sixty-one districts of the 
city to constitute a Commune, the more immediate duty 



1789.] SEIGNEURIAL RIGHTS ABANDONED. 157 

v of which was to procure supplies of food during the 
great scarcity which prevailed. The preservation of 
anything like order depended on Bailly and Lafayette, 
assisted by the Burgher Guard. In spite of their efforts, 
the populace broke again into insurrection, and horrible 
outrages were committed. Foulon, who had succeeded 
Necker as minister of finance, happening to be seen 
in Paris, a cry was got up that he had been heard to 
say that the people should be made to eat hay. On 
this mischievous calumny, he was seized and hanged, 
his body dragged through the streets, and, finally, his heart 
was torn out, and carried about on the point of a sword. 
On the 4th August, a most extraordinary and un- 
expected scene took place in the Assembly. Moved by 
orations from the Viscount de Noailles and the Duke 
d'Aiguillon, the members of all the orders were affected 
with a delirious impulse to relinquish their individual 
privileges. All those who by perverse selfishness had 
led to, the Revolution now vied with each other in 
liberality. The nobles gave up their seigneurial rights ; 
the clergy relinquished tithes, pluralities, and fees ; and 
the tiers-etat surrendered the privileges of towns and 
provinces. A proposal of the archbishop of Paris to 
celebrate a Te JDeum, and a motion to designate Louis 
XVI. the restorer of French liberty, were agreed to in 
a fit of enthusiasm. All the decrees were assented to 
by the king, and promulgated as laws. One night had 
seen the overthrow of usages a thousand years old. 
Shortly afterwards, the leading principles of the consti- 
tution were agreed on — France to be a constitutional 
monarchy, an assembly to make the laws, on which the 
king was entitled to exercise a veto during a period 
limited to two sessions. 



158 FRANCE, 

The Assembly was now apparently the dominant body 
in the state. But there had already sprung up an irre- 
gular power, greater than that of the Assembly, and 
before which all had to bow — the power of the mob. 
The self-constituted Commune of Paris, secretly inspired 
by the Duke of Orleans, had become, so to speak, the 
engine which worked the Revolution. As if that were 
not enough, political clubs began to be established for 
the purpose of keeping up a constant insurrectionary 
stimulus. In the short interval between May and 
September 1789, the spirit of revolution had gained a 
strength which no constituted authority, if so inclined, 
was competent to quell. 

The limited right of veto indulgently left to the king, 
gave displeasure to the Parisian populace, and produced 
much excitement. While the agitation was at its height, 
the officers of the king's body-guards, gave an evening 
entertainment at the palace of Versailles, 23d September, 
and the king and queen having given their presence for 
a short time, were received with loud demonstrations of 
loyalty. It was alleged that white cockades were dis- 
tributed by ladies to the soldiers, and that a tricolour 
cockade was trampled under foot with studied indignity. 
A display of a similar character took place on the 3d 
October. In Paris, the indignation was boundless; a 
spark was only wanting to produce an explosion. On 
the morning of the 5th, a young virago began the insur- 
rection by beating a drum, and shouting for bread, bread! 
An infuriated rabble attacked the H6tel-de-Ville, which 
was with difficulty saved from destruction ; and the next 
movement was to Versailles, which was reached in the 
afternoon. 

Great was the consternation on the appearance of 



1789.] REMOVAL OF KING TO PARIS. 159 

armed mobs of men and women in the town. They 
rushed with piercing cries into the midst of the Assembly, 
and marching to the palace, were prevented from wreak- 
ing their vengeance on the royal family, only by some 
timely courtesies from the king and queen. During the 
night the public-houses were crowded with the rioters. 
Next morning, Lafayette, who had command of the 
National Guard, which he had brought from Paris for 
the preservation of order, failed in protecting the palace 
from outrage. The mob burst in the doors, and seeking 
out the apartments of the queen, several murders were 
committed. Fortunately, by the interference of the 
gardes-di>corps, who appeased the insurgents, no per- 
sonal violence was perpetrated on the royal family; but 
the cry ' To Paris !' arose, and the king and queen, with 
their children, were obliged to obey the command. 
With shouts and revolutionary songs, the mob escorted 
the royal family along the road to Paris, the savagery of 
the whole scene being aggravated by a party of ruffians 
carrying on pikes two heads of soldiers in the body- 
guard, killed at the assault on the palace. By a refine- 
ment of ferocity, the monsters stopped at Sevres to 
cause a hairdresser to curl and powder the disordered 
locks of the two heads, which were borne aloft in front 
of the royal carriage. 

Shortly after the court had been established at the 
Tuileries, the Assembly moved to Paris — a fatal move, 
for the members were now liable to be overawed by 
popular intimidation. A political club called the Club 
Breton, which had been formed at Versailles, consisting 
of the more revolutionary members of the States-general, 
now also removed to the capital, and holding its meet- 
ings in the hall of a former Jacobin convent, received 



160 FRANCE. 

the name of the Jacobin Club. Soon it incorporated 
as members all the more violent of the democratic 
party in Paris, and established twelve hundred affiliated 
societies throughout France. From this club came the 
term Jacobin, signifying a republican of an extreme 
type. Opposed to it was the club of the Feuillants, 
consisting of the friends of the constitution, and taking 
their name from the order of the Feuillants, in whose 
hall they met. The club of the Cordeliers, also taking 
its name from the hall of a monastery, was in character 
not greatly different from that of the Jacobins, but did 
not attain to such gigantic power. The mischief wrought 
by these clubs, especially that of the Jacobins, afforded 
a striking testimony of the dangerous chaiacter of 
voluntary and irresponsible associations, which assume 
the privilege of sitting in judgment on, and overawing 
constituted authorities. What with the Commune and 
the Jacobin Club, and behind all, the anarchists armed 
with pikes, who throve on plunder, and were ready to 
commit the most foul outrages for a few francs a day, 
anything like regular government was at an end. The 
National Guard, which had its origin in Paris, was 
extended over the country as a species of armed police, 
professedly to protect life and property; but as this 
civic soldiery often acted according to its political bias, 
and fraternised with the mob, it could not be thoroughly 
reckoned on for the preservation of order. 

Excited by local clubs, as well as by recollections of 
feudal oppressions, the peasantry in various districts 
assembled in bands, and attacked the chateaux of 
noblesse and seigneurs, which they sacked and burned. 
In some instances whole families were massacred. Desir- 
ing to possess the land, these rural mobs searched for the 



1789.] EMIGRA TION OF NOBLESSE. 161 

title-deeds of property, and when they failed to find them, 
they put the proprietors whom they seized to the most 
frightful tortures, to compel them to disclose the place 
of concealment Many churches and convents shared 
the fate of the chateaux. The Assembly affected to 
deplore these disorders, but took no active measures to 
abate them, being secretly pleased that the atrocities 
would intimidate all who continued to doubt the 
propriety of the Revolution. 

Against these insurrectionary movements, the higher 
classes made no head. Yielding to panic fear, they 
fled in great numbers from the country, instead of 
remaining to exert their influence for the preservation 
of peace and order. About the time that Louis XVI. 
was brought with his family to Paris, he was deserted 
by those whose duty was to rally round the throne. 
First went off his youngest brother, the Count d'Artois, 
the Prince of Conde, Duke de Polignac, Marshal de 
Broglie, M. de Breteuil, prime-minister, and several 
others. And shortly afterwards followed his brother 
Monsieur, Count de Provence, the Prince de Bourbon, 
Duke d'Enghien, and Duke de Luxembourg. Even 
D'Espremenil — he who was an instigator of rebellion in 
the Parliament — ran away, but was caught, and brought 
back to the Assembly. Such was the beginning of that 
emigration of high and middle class to Germany and 
England, which helped materially to aggravate the revo- 
lutionary troubles; and for long afterwards, emigrant 
noblesse, who had hitherto disdained to follow any 
honourable line of industry, might have been seen 
depending on charity, or labouring at humble employ- 
ments in London for their daily bread. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

LOUIS XVI. — REVOLUTION CONTINUED, OCTOBER 1789 
TO SEPTEMBER 1792. 

A CCORDING to ordinary historians, the arrival of 
** the king in the palace of the Tuileries gave much 
satisfaction to the Parisians • but, from the account of 
Arthur Young, the change could not be very agreeable 
to the royal family, who were watched as if they had 
been criminals. He tells us, that when walking in the 
gardens of the palace, the king was accompanied by six 
grenadiers. The queen was similarly attended, and did 
not appear to be in health. There was ' a little garden 
railed off, for the dauphin to amuse himself in, and a 
small room built in it to retire to in case of rain ; here 
he was at work with his little hoe and rake, but not 
without a guard or two of grenadiers. He is a very 
pretty goodmatured-looking boy of five or six years old, 
with an agreeable countenance ; wherever he goes, all 
hats are taken off to him, which I was glad to observe. 
All the family being kept thus close prisoners, for such 
they are in effect, affords at first view a shocking spec- 
tacle.' In the privacy of the palace, the queen occupied 
herself in the education of her two children. 

On coming to Paris, the Assembly held its sittings in 
^he palace of the archbishop, from which it speedily 



1789.] DIVISION INTO DEPARTMENTS. 163 

removed to the large hall of a riding-school, situated 
between the Tuileries and the Palais-Royal (now an 
open space traversed by the Rue Rivoli). Among the 
earliest proceedings at this place of meeting, was that 
of remodelling the system of local government in 
France. The old provinces, with their intendants and 
antiquated usages, were abolished. The country was 
divided into departments, respectively named from some 
leading natural feature. Each department was divided 
into districts, and the districts into cantons. The 
appointment of departmental councils, along with a 
graduated ramification of officials, was assigned to 
electors on a popular basis; it being declared that 
henceforth the people were the only legitimate source 
of power. The government of towns was in a similar 
manner provided for. About the same time (December 
1789), a proposal of Dr Guillotin was adopted for alter- 
ing the form of capital punishment into that for behead- 
ing by a machine which has since been called by his 
name, and soon obtained an infamous notoriety. 

The clergy next received some attention. They had 
obstinately refused to bear their fair share of taxation, 
and were now to experience the consequences. Necker, 
as unable as ever to recover the finances, brought the 
extent of the deficiency before the Assembly, and, as 
the easiest method of providing funds, it was resolved, 
on the recommendation of Talleyrand, to take and sell 
the whole of the church property, which was valued at 
^80,000,000. Loud, but vain, were the remonstrances 
of the clergy. Their property was sequestrated, and 
they were reduced to the critical position of being 
stipendiaries with moderate incomes dependent on the 
state. In France, there has at all times been an insane 



164 FRANCE. 

desire to possess and occupy land. The estates belong- 
ing to the church readily found purchasers among those 
who had any money at disposal. In order to effect 
sales with greater expedition, the plan was adopted of 
issuing a species of notes, called assignats, of which 
a certain amount would be received in the purchases. 
Assign ats were afterwards issued in such profusion that 
they soon suffered a great depreciation. The end in 
view was, however, gained. The vast domains of not 
only the clergy, but of many other proprietors which 
were seized, were broken up into small portions among 
a humble class of proprietors; and, by its repeated 
creations of assignats, the revolutionary government was 
enabled to sustain itself in all its difficulties. These 
measures of spoliation were followed by the abrogation 
of all the provincial parliaments, the establishment of 
trial by jury, and the organisation of a supreme 
criminal court of appeal at Paris, styled the Court of 
Cassation (May 1790). 

As the members of the States-general had been 
elected only for a year, their term of office had now 
expired, and, legally, it was their duty to quit office. 
That, for reasons satisfactory to themselves, they 
declined to do. They had, without warrant, assumed 
the functions of a Constituent Assembly ; and now they 
maintained their right to continue their labours until 
they had completed the framework of the constitution. 
While thus unauthorisedly continuing their session, they, 
on the 20th June 1790, abolished the order of nobility, 
and announced that in future men were to possess 
no other distinction than that ' arising from their virtues.' 
Even the terms monsieur and madame were discontinued. 
Every man was addressed as citizen, and every woman 



1790.] CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. 165 

as citoyenne. There was a singular blending of frivolity 
with bold comprehensive measures of national import. 
The destruction of the Bastille being deemed the initia- 
tory step in the Revolution, it was proper the anniversary 
of that great event should be fittingly honoured with a 
public demonstration. There was accordingly a grand 
ceremonial, called the ' National Confederation/ in the 
Champ de Mars on the 14th July. It was attended by 
the king, the members of the Assembly, federal deputa- 
tions from various parts of France, and a large body of 
National Guards. The solemnities commenced by the 
celebration of mass at an altar raised conspicuously in 
the midst of the concourse, at which Talleyrand, bishop 
of Autun, officiated. The ceremony was concluded by 
all taking an oath ' to be faithful to the nation, the 
law, and the king;' and with salvoes of artillery the 
' national federation ' was completed. 

This imposing display, with its ostentatious professions 
of loyalty, did not in the least prevent the breaking 
out of disorder. So many interests and feelings had 
been outraged by the recent sweeping changes, that 
various were the plots and plans to discredit the 
Revolution. Louis XVI., while anxious to keep well 
with the Assembly, did not fail to see that his position 
was becoming to the last degree perilous. Already he had 
had thoughts of quitting the country with his family, 
but had been restrained by the consideration that this 
would have furthered the design of the Duke of Orleans 
to be appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom. He 
also had the delusive hope that the other European 
sovereigns might in some way shield him from anything 
like personal violence. Day by day the state of affairs 
grew more gloomy. Notwithstanding the sales of church 



166 FRANCE, 

property and the issue of assignats, the finances were 
in as desperate a condition as ever. Necker admon- 
ished the Assembly to avoid the discredit of national 
bankruptcy; and, to his consternation, a fresh issue of 
assignats was ordered, so far beyond all chance of 
redemption, that he resigned, 3d September 1790. 
Retiring to his native Switzerland, he had leisure to 
ponder on the failure of those dreams of human per- 
fectibility which had led him to promote the Revo- 
lution. The other ministers at the same time retired, 
and men of inferior ability were put in their place. 

The Gallican church had been stripped of its patri- 
mony. It was doomed to suffer a yet greater indignity. 
The clergy of every degree were ordered to give obe- 
dience to an enactment which would take from them 
their spiritual dependence on the pope, and reduce them 
to the character of civil servants of the state. They were 
to swear an oath to this effect on the 4th January 1791, 
on pain of dismissal. Very few took the oath, and the 
great bulk of the clergy were pronounced contumacious. 
Henceforth, there was a nonjuring clergy, whom many 
looked upon as martyrs ; and in adhering to their 
ministrations, which were deemed illegal, there occurred 
innumerable disorders in various parts of the country. 

On the 1 8th March 1791, the Assembly abolished 
the right of primogeniture ; and, in conformity to the 
levelling spirit of the times, established a compulsory 
rule of equal succession to property among children 
or nearest of kin. Of all the laws enacted by the 
Constituent Assembly, this one has wrought the most 
lasting mischief; for, through successive divisions and 
subdivisions of land, it has created a poor peasant, pro- 
prietary, unfitted to take any intelligent part in public 



1 79L] FLIGHT OF ROYAL FAMILY. 167 

business, and who are usually a facile herd - in the 
hands of a central authority. 

By the operation of the enactment against the 
clergy, the king was put to great straits — not being 
allowed to go to St Cloud, as he might there find 
a nonjuror for a confessor — and as his position 
otherwise was becoming almost unendurable, he re- 
solved on flight with his family. To this design assist- 
ance was secretly lent by Mirabeau, for, demagogue 
as he was, he foresaw the end of monarchy, and the 
approach of a degree of anarchy which he had not at 
first contemplated. Much to the distress of the royal 
family, Mirabeau died, 2d April 1791, and the scheme 
was attempted to be carried out without him. 

After adopting the greatest precautions, and using 
various disguises, the king and his family, with a few 
confidential servants, succeeded in departing from Paris 
on the night of the 20th June, towards the eastern 
frontiers ; but being accidentally discovered at Varennes, 
they were brought back, and received with wild and 
threatening cries, and shouts for the abolition of the 
monarchy. The terror suffered! by the queen had, in a 
single night, turned her hair gray. Lodged again in the 
Tuileries, the royal family were for some time strictly 
guarded, night and day, though, on discussing the subject 
of their flight, the Assembly could not discover that the 
king, by his excursion, had committed any illegal act. 
By the more thoughtful, the bringing back of Louis and 
his family was deemed a political blunder, and this has 
proved to be a correct opinion. 

Robespierre, Marat, Danton, Camille Desmoulins, 
Fre'ron, and others, seized on the occurrence as favour- 
able to promote their scheme of overthrowing royalty, 



1 68 FRANCE. 

and setting up a republic. The mode of operation, as 
usual, was to rouse the mob to make a grand insurrec- 
tionary movement, which, under their leadership, should 
begin by a meeting in the Champ de Mars. The 
attempt was skilfully frustrated by Lafayette and the 
National Guard, who, by a well-directed fire, dispersed 
' the concourse of anarchists. Had the Assembly at the 
same time ordered the forcible closing of the two most 
seditious of the clubs — the Jacobins and Cordeliers — 
the progress of the Revolution might have been staid. 
The leaders of the movement were allowed to go un- 
punished — a degree of lenity that only encouraged the 
enemies of peace and order. 

In the lower region of the Rhone, there had recently 
been proceedings of a most outrageous kind in con- 
nection with Avignon and Venaissin — two counties, 
including the city of Avignon, which, since the middle 
ages, had been lawful possessions of the pope, who 
governed them by a legate. Affected by the revolu- 
tionary mania, the populace of Avignon chased away 
the legate from the palace, and declared that the city 
should henceforth belong to France; the municipality, 
at the same time, seized and sold the church bells and 
plate. Roused by this act of sacrilege, the rural popu- 
lation entered the city, murdered the town-clerk, and 
committed some other excesses. The anarchists took a 
terrible revenge on those within the town who were any 
way concerned in this outrage. Shutting the gates, to 
prevent escape, they fell upon and slaughtered nearly 
a hundred persons, of both sexes, with a degree of 
barbarity too shocking to be related. It is enough to 
say, that the hearts of the victims were torn out, and, 
with portions of the bodies, were cooked and eaten 



I79L] CLOSE OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. 169 

in the midst of the carnage. Elated with these exploits, 
the revolutionary party petitioned the Assembly to 
annex the counties of Avignon and Venaissin to France. 
Without -a shadow of right, the annexation was voted 
with thunders of applause, 14th September 1791. 

The Constituent Assembly now drew its labours to a 
close. It had, as it thought, perfected the constitution, 
corrected all the more flagrant legal abuses, and placed 
the monarchy on a firm and popular basis. In a fit of 
disinterestedness, the members, as one of their last 
acts, passed a self-denying ordinance, by which they 
should not be eligible for election in next Assembly. 

With not a little bitterness of feeling, Louis XVI. 
agreed to accept the constitution, by which he would 
relinquish the title of ' King of France _and Navarre/ 
and be styled 'King of the French/ and as regards 
his sovereign power, except that he might appoint his • 
own guards, and, if possible, exercise a right of veto, it 
was so considerably reduced as to be little better than 
nominal. There was, however, no choice. The cere- 
mony of accepting the constitution publicly took place 
14th September 1791. The Constituent Assembly closed 
its sittings on the 30th of the same month. During the 
two years and five months of its existence, it had 
enacted 1309 laws and decrees relative to the general 
administration. It is admitted that many of the changes 
effected were most salutary. The abolition of lettres de 
cachet and cruelty in punishments; the removal of the 
whole tribe of feudal burdens, corvees, and other forms 
of oppression; the extinction of the Parliament of 
Paris and the other parliaments; also the granting of 
religious toleration — all were particularly deserving 
of commendation. Those changes directed against 



170 FRANCE. 

the structure of society were, on the contrary, of that 
evil tendency which history has since so signally 
demonstrated. 

The Constituent Assembly committed an irretrievable 
blunder when it decreed that its members were not 
immediately eligible for re-election ; for the Assembly 
contained a number of able men with moderate views, 
and strongly desirous of maintaining a hereditary mon- 
archy, on however limited a footing. All these were now 
set aside by their own act, and an opening was made 
for a wholly new and inexperienced set of men, elected 
by constituencies professing the most extreme republican 
principles. Although such persons as Robespierre were 
excluded from the legislative body, they did equal if 
not greater mischief by their violent harangues in the 
clubs, which now more than ever exerted a domineering 
influence over the Assembly. No minister was allowed 
to sit in this new Assembly, and the monarch had no 
power to dissolve it. Compared with what suc- 
ceeded it, the Constituent Assembly was a respect- 
able body. The Legislative Assembly, as it was called, 
which met ist October, was composed of individuals 
generally inferior in social status. Among the whole there 
were not fifty persons with means of livelihood above 
two pounds a week. Noisy, coarse in manners, and as 
presumptuous as they were ignorant, the members of 
this new Assembly were in most cases incompetent to 
deal with grave matters of legislation. As a beginning, 
they decreed that the title of Sire and Majesty should be 
disused in addressing the king ; and, to shew his inde- 
pendence, one of the members kept on his hat in his 
presence. 

Much of the business coming before the Assembly 



1792.] THE GIRONDISTS. 171 

was pre-arranged at the clubs. There, measures were 
adopted for carrying resolutions either by force of decla- 
mation, or by overawing the members by tumultuous 
shouts from the gallery. The most respectable members, 
in point of culture, were a class of politicians aiming at 
exalted republican virtue, called the Girondists, from the 
leaders of the party being sent as deputies from the 
department of the Gironde, in the south-west of France. 
The leaders of the Girondists were Vergniaud, Guadet, 
Gensonne, Isnard, Brissot, and Barbaroux. Clever, 
heroic, and eloquent, they were rash and inexperienced. 
They aimed at resembling the ancient Roman repub- 
licans, and were totally forgetful of the fact, that the bulk 
of the population of France were at this time unable to 
comprehend high political principle. Therein lay the 
great error of the party. Carried away by delusions, they 
actually joined the Jacobins in helping to dethrone the 
king, and bring on that state of anarchy in which, to 
their surprise and mortification, they were among the 
earliest victims. 

Roland, one of the party of the Gironde, who had 
reached middle life, was a man of moderate abilities. 
When the king, early in 1792, chose a ministry from 
the moderate party, he was appointed minister of 
the interior. His house now became the resort of th^ 
Girondists, who were drawn to it by the literary and 
conversational powers of Madame Roland. This lady, 
one of the celebrities of the Revolution, possessed 
enthusiastic notions about liberty. In her youth, she is 
said to have wept that she had not been born a Spartan 
or Roman maiden; but now, elated with the political 
prospects of France, she declared that her country 
had at length nothing to envy in the republics of 



172 FRANCE, 

antiquity. How grievously was she doomed to be 
disenchanted ! 

Everything tended to produce disorder. The. emigrant 
noblesse in Germany excited indignation by their con- 
spiracies to raise an army to invade France. Pressed 
by this danger, the Assembly issued decrees dooming 
to death and confiscation of estates all who did 
not return by the ist January 1792. The next violent 
measure was that which ordained all nonjuring clergy 
to take the oath to the constitution on pain of being 
suspected of treason. Against this harsh measure the 
king made a decided stand, and his refusal to agree to 
it caused extraordinary perturbation. During the agita- 
tion on the subject, intelligence arrived of the insurrec- 
tion of the slaves in San Domingo, and the murder of 
their owners. This disaster, which proved ultimately 
the loss of the colony, led to furious dissensions in the 
Assembly, and helped to stimulate the passions of the 
populace, already sufficiently roused by dearth, depre- 
ciated paper-money, and want of employment. Roland 
was dismissed; the Girondists resigned office; and a 
ministry of a very indifferent sort appointed. 

As the king still declined to sanction the severe 
measures against the clergy, the municipality of Paris, 
under the leadership of Pe'tion, the mayor, roused the 
masses to present a petition to the Assembly, praying, 
among other things, for the annihilation of monarchy. 
On the 20th June, a vast crowd of men and women, 
carrying pikes and daggers, and shouting revolutionary 
songs, poured into the Assembly with the petition. The 
tumult, which lasted three hours, met with no check 
from the half-affrighted members. Headed by Santerre, 
a brewer, the crowd proceeded from the Assembly to 



1 792.] A TTA CK ON TUILERIES. 1 73 

the palace, which having unceremoniously entered, a 
rush was made to the royal apartments. Here, the poor 
king received the multitude with a placid dignity, which 
somewhat discomposed them. Seated on a chair placed 
on a table within the embrasure of one of the windows, 
he put on a Cap of Liberty which a man in a state of 
drunkenness handed to him, in which guise he listened 
to the demand that he should assent to the proscription 
of the priests. Firmly refusing the request, he kept his 
composure, until the crowd dispersed, under the per- 
suasions of several members of the Assembly. The 
queen, with her two children and the Princess Elizabeth, 
remained with the king during this horrid and trying 
scene. 

From this time, the king and queen abandoned them- 
selves to their fate ; their only fear was for their children. 
On the 14th July, at the public ceremony commemora- 
tive of the taking of the Bastille, they saw by the looks 
of the multitude that they were the objects of merciless 
hostility. Their danger was increased by an injudicious 
proclamation of the Duke of Brunswick, that he was 
advancing from Coblentz at the head of a large army 
of Germans to give liberty to the king, and to maintain 
his authority. Infuriated by this manifesto, Danton, 
Robespierre, Marat, and other revolutionists, organised 
an attack on the Tuileries, for the purpose of making the 
royal family prisoners. In order not to depend solely 
on the depraved populace of Paris, ardent revolutionary 
mobs were invited from Marseilles and other parts of 
France — the Duke of Orleans aiding with funds to 
promote the utmost possible disorder. 

The frightful excesses which from this time were 
committed, derived additional horror from the blending 



174 FRANCE. 

of wild tumultuary cries, dances, and songs with scenes 
of bloodshed. The refrain of the song beginning \ Ca 
ira ' (' That will do ') was the shout over the unhappy 
victims carried to execution. While indulging in the 
coarsest revelries, the mob danced the Carmagnole, which 
derived its name from Carmagnole in Piedmont — the 
dancing being accompanied with a song stimulative of 
acts of atrocity. The most stirring, however, of all the 
musical incitements was a warlike song composed by 
Rouget de Lisle, an officer of artillery at Strasburg, 
with a view to inspire a body of volunteers leaving that 
city in 1792. Caught up by levies of revolutionary 
troops in other quarters, it was adopted with fervour by 
the refuse of Marseilles, who were draughted to the 
capital previous to the grand attack on the Tuileries, 
and hence the song and tune have received the name of 
the Marseillaise. 

Along with these follies, there arose a mania for 
introducing the dress and other usages of the ancient 
Greeks and Romans, under the notion that they were 
thus returning to the simplicity of republican manners. 
When a Roman slave received his liberty, his head was 
attired with a felt cap or cowl, called a pileus. The 
pileus, accordingly, became an emblem of freedom. The 
figure of Liberty on some of the coins of Antoninus 
holds such a cap in her right hand. From such an 
origin, the more ardent French republicans adopted the 
Cap of Liberty. The form of cap chosen was that 
known as the Phrygian bonnet, from its being repre- 
sented on works of ancient art as worn by Phrygians 
and other Asiatics. It had a conical top bent forward 
and downward, like a nightcap ; and being usually of a 
red colour, was called the bonnet rouge. Another freak 



1792.] THE TENTH OF AUGUST 175 

of the same kind was the planting of what they called 
Trees of Liberty in the public thoroughfares. 

We would gladly, if we could, pass over the extra- 
ordinary instances of pure barbarism which characterised 
the revolutionary tumults. In their maniacal fury, the 
French did not confine themselves to mere killing, but 
took a wicked pleasure in perpetrating outrages on the 
bodies of the slain — even to the extent of cannibalism — 
which could scarcely have been expected from tribes of 
the lowest order of savages. A people priding them- 
selves on their philosophy, their literature, and their 
refinement, sunk in social estimation below the Bosjes- 
men of Southern Africa or the natives of Tierra del 
Fuego. The excesses were, of course, the work of the 
most despicable of the population ; but in every instance, 
politicians of high standing, men renowned in science 
and art, fomented and extenuated atrocities which remain 
an indelible stain on the national character. The 
outrage on the Tuileries, now to come under notice, 
exemplifies this in a marked degree. It took place on 
the ioth August 1792, which was the last day of 
freedom of the unfortunate Louis XVI. 

With reinforcements of troops from Marseilles, the 
leaders of the insurrection had an army of thirty thousand 
men to carry out their savage design. As their approach 
was expected, the palace was put in a state of defence, 
but beyond this the king would take no steps to rely on 
military force. During the night, he and the queen 
could take no rest, but sat up in a condition of calm 
despair. The attack commenced at six in the morning. 
As massacre was inevitable, the attendants persuaded 
the royal family to seek refuge in the Assembly, and it 
was with much difficulty they reached the hall in safety. 



176 FRANCE. 

Meanwhile, the Swiss guards in the palace were attacked 
and overpowered. Some tried to escape by the gardens 
behind the palace, but there they were pursued and 
killed amidst the trees and statues. A remnant of the 
Swiss and other guards who had defended the Tuileries 
was ruthlessly massacred. A few servants were saved 
by throwing themselves from the windows ; others, less 
fortunate, were put to death. The palace was ran- 
sacked, bureaus forced open and plundered, the furniture 
destroyed, and the most horrible orgies took place. 
Streams of blood flowed everywhere from the roof to 
the cellars, and it was scarcely possible to set foot on a 
single spot without treading on a dead body. Bands 
of ferocious women killed the wounded Swiss who had 
been made prisoners, tore out their entrails, cut off 
portions of their bodies, which they roasted and ate, 
and committed other barbarities too horrible to bear 
description. Upwards of five thousand persons were 
slaughtered on this dreadful ioth August. 

For fifteen hours, the king, the queen, the dauphin, 
the princess royal, and the Princess Elizabeth — a miser- 
able group — were constrained to sit on a confined seat 
in the Assembly, hearing the wildest harangues, that 
were partially drowned in the uproarious cries of the mob 
outside. In a stupor, they were, at one o'clock in the 
morning of the nth, conducted to a place of detention 
in the building of the Feuillants. The French monarchy 
was practically at an end. For several days, there was 
a general obliteration of memorials of royalty. The 
statue of Louis XIV. in the centre of the Place Vendome, 
of Henry IV. on the Pont-Neuf, with other statues, were 
destroyed, and various churches and private dwellings 
devastated. Any one resisting, was either instantly 



1792.] THE SECOND OF SEPTEMBER. 177 

killed, or dragged into the street, and hanged with the 
cords from which depended the public lamps. The cry 
of a la lanterne was equivalent to a sentence of death. 

On the 13th, the royal family were transferred to 
the Temple, a gloomy prison in the eastern part of 
Paris ; and here they were waited on by a few personal 
attendants who had escaped the massacre of the 10th, 
and were desirous to serve them in their dire extremity. 
On the 19th, the Revolutionary Tribunal was instituted 
for the trial of alleged rebels to the new order of 
affairs, and on the 21st the first victim was sent to the 
guillotine. 

Searching visits to private houses having filled the 
prisons with suspected aristocrats, it was resolved to 
massacre them en masse. The municipality taking in 
hand this atrocity, hired a band of three hundred 
assassins, who began the work of destruction on the 
2d September. The unhappy victims, driven from their 
cells, were stabbed, cut down, and murdered as they 
issued into the street. With savage yells, each prison 
was attacked in turn. To afford amusement to the 
spectators, seats were arranged for men and women at 
the doorways of the prisons, and at night lamps were 
lit, so that nothing of the murderous spectacle might 
be lost. Upwards of two hundred clergy perished in 
the massacre. The female prisoners suffered great bar- 
barities. Among the whole, none was so grossly mal- 
treated as the Princess de Lamballe. This lady, of 
uncommon beauty, an attached friend of the queen, was 
dragged from the prison of La Force, and cruelly slain 
by cuts of a sabre. Her body, after being brutally 
mangled, was stripped of its clothing, and treated with 
brutal indecency. It was then divided into fragments, 

L 



178 FRANCE. 

which were borne through Paris on the points of pikes. 
The massacre lasted from the 2d to the 6th, and about 
eight thousand persons perished. Their bodies, thrown 
into trenches, were afterwards lifted, and the skulls and 
other bones conveyed to the extensive catacombs which 
are excavated under a part of Paris. The wage of the 
assassins was twenty-four francs, nearly a pound, a day, 
which was paid by the magistrates. No attempt was 
made by the Assembly to stay the massacre, and the 
citizens looked on with indifference while this infamous 
scene was enacted by not more than three hundred of 
the refuse of mankind. At Rheims and other places, 
there were similar atrocities. 

The massacres had been skilfully organised by the 
Jacobins for an electioneering purpose. The days of 
the Legislative Assembly were about to expire ; a new 
election was at hand, and it was important to secure 
members of the most ardently republican type. The 
scheme was successful. Robespierre, Danton, Camille 
Desmoulins, Tallien, Anacharsis Clootz, Collot d'Her- 
bois, Billaud Varennes, David, an eminent artist, and 
the Duke of Orleans, who now called himself Philippe 1 
Egalite, were among the deputies from Paris. The 
Girondists were strong in numbers, but, being elected by 
provincial constituencies, they had no support from the 
Parisian populace, who now more than ever upheld the 
power of the Jacobins. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE REPUBLIC. SEPTEMBER 1792 TO OCTOBER 1795. 

'HPHE new Assembly, styled the National Convention, 
-*- met on the 21st September. In its sittings, parties 
were distinctly marked. There were the cote droit, or 
right side of the president ; the cote gauche, or left 
side ; and the filaine, or part in the centre. Those on 
the right, reputed as friends of the constitution, were 
known as the Feuillants, from their belonging to a 
club which met in the monastery of that name. The 
extreme party, connected mostly with the Jacobin 
Club, sat on the high benches on the left, from which 
circumstance they were familiarly designated the 
Mountain. The first act of the Convention was the 
abolition of monarchy, and proclamation of a republic. 
Fresh issues of assignats to an enormous amount were 
also decreed. In proportion as new issues of this paper- 
money were put in circulation, their value fell in the 
market. It being dangerous to refuse them in pay- 
ment, many tradesmen began to give up selling; but 
as the assignats were a legal tender, persons did not 
scruple to impose them on creditors in discharge of 
their debts. Both through the profuse issue of assignats, 
and the passing of a law which prescribed that not above 
a certain maximum price should be charged for articles 



i8o FRANCE. 

of daily consumption, immense losses were suffered. 
We may have some idea of the vigorous way in which 
the system of assignats was worked, in the fact, that the 
annual expenditure rose to as much as ^130,000,000 
sterling. 

Embarked in the enterprise of regenerating the world, 
and defying all the enemies of France, the revolutionists 
acted with an energy and daring which have no parallel 
in modern history. The profuse issue of a comparatively 
worthless paper-money, compulsory loans, excessive tax- 
ation, and terror of the guillotine, were the agencies on 
which they relied. There was above all a fervid enthu- 
siasm in favour of republican notions of liberty, along 
with a deadly hatred of ' aristocrats/ which carried the 
country on in spite of the general disorder of affairs. So 
aided and animated, the French forces, organised by the 
genius of Carnot, and commanded by Dumourier, drove 
all before them in their campaign in the north of France 
and the Netherlands. On the 28th September 1792, 
they gained a victory over the Prussians at Valmy; and 
on the 6th November following, they were equally victo- 
rious over the Austrians at the battle of Jemappes. In 
the Netherlands, the French commanders, acting under 
orders, opened the navigation of the Scheldt, contrary 
to a treaty with Holland, to which England was a 
party. 

In October, Savoy was overrun by missionaries of 
Jacobinism, ' armed with the torch of reason and liberty/ 
who succeeded in stirring up the natives to revolution. 
Deputations of Savoyards appeared before the Conven- 
tion, praying that their country might be incorporated 
with France — a request which was at once agreed to, 
and the new district was incorporated as the department 



1792.] PROCLAMATIONS OF CONVENTION. 181 

of Mont Blanc. Nice and the principality of Monaco 
were soon after seized, and incorporated as the depart- 
ment of the Alpes Maritimes (November 1792). In- 
flamed by these and other successes, the Convention 
trampled down all international treaties and obligations, 
proclaimed the i rights of man ;' ' war to the palace, 
and peace to the cottage;' decreed the suppression of 
all constituted authorities ; and charged their generals 
to yield assistance to all peoples struggling to obtain 
' liberty, equality, and fraternity/ December 15, 1792 
— all which was nothing short of a proclamation of 
universal hostility. 

Step by step the revolutionists had abandoned every- 
thing like moderation; having deposed the king, their 
proposal was now to bring him to trial and condemn 
him. This extreme measure, after being faintly opposed 
by the Girondists, was at length resolved on. It would 
be difficult to say of what the unfortunate Louis was 
guilty, except that he had been much too gentle and 
confiding. The Jacobins had little difficulty in hatching 
accusations against the fallen monarch. He was charged 
with writing a letter, on the 16th April 1791, to the 
bishop of Clermont, in which he said, \ that if he 
recovered his power, he would restore the clergy and 
the constitution to their former state.' The absurd 
charge was also made that he had conspired to massacre 
the whole members of the Convention. After a 
discussion on the subject, a resolution was carried by 
Robespierre, c to summon Louis Capet to the bar to 
answer for his crimes. ' 

The royal family had been about four months in 
close confinement in the Temple. They had two 
or three small apartments allotted to them, and there 



1 82 FRANCE. 

they spent their time, partly in reading such books as 
were allowed them, or in a routine of humble duties 
befitting their altered condition. The king read much ; 
he also spent some hours daily in instructing the 
dauphin. The queen paid similar attentions to the 
princess royal. From their lofty prison windows, they 
could hear the ferocious multitude shouting revolutionary 
songs and menaces. It was only by means of Clery, 
a faithful valet, that they gained any intelligence of 
public events. Latterly, to the grief of the little party, 
the king and the dauphin were separated from the 
others, and confined in a different tower of the prison, 
but were allowed the solace of dining together. 

On the nth December, the king was conveyed to the 
Convention ; where, having heard the accusations against 
him, and suffered an examination, he was conducted back 
to the Temple to prepare for his trial. Next day he 
was informed that he might employ counsel, which he 
did. Malesherbes volunteered his services, and they 
were gratefully accepted. On the 26th December, the 
unfortunate monarch was carried to his trial. M. 
Deseze, an eloquent pleader who was engaged to 
make a speech in defence, acquitted himself admirably, 
but elicited no sympathetic response from the auditory. 
Louis spoke briefly : ' The particulars of my defence are 
before you. I shall not repeat them. In speaking to 
you, perhaps for the last time, I declare that my 
conscience reproaches me with nothing, and that my 
advocates have only stated what is true. I was never 
afraid of having my conduct publicly examined ; but my 
heart is torn with anguish to find myself accused, in the 
act of impeachment, of having sought to shed the blood 
of the people; and, above all, that the calamitous events 



1792.] TRIAL OF LOUIS XVL 183 

of the 10th of August are attributed to me. I had 
hoped that the whole tenor of my life would have 
preserved me from such an imputation. , The dignity 
and sensibility with which he pronounced these words 
made a deep impression ; and, fearful of an outburst in 
his favour, the president directed him to withdraw. 
Louis saw that his case had been prejudged. Before 
leaving the hall, he addressed some kind words to 
his counsel, remarking, with looks of despondency : 
' Was it for this that I made so many conces r 
sions — that I so constantly strove for the happiness 
of France ?' 

Transferred once more to the Temple, the king 
made some preparations for the concluding tragedy. 
He wrote his testament, which embraced a vindica- 
tion of his conduct to posterity, with a forgiveness 
of his misguided subjects. He perused attentively 
Hume's account of Charles I. in his last moments. 
Meanwhile, days were consumed by the Convention in 
coming to a decision. On the part of the Jacobins, 
there were ebullitions of violent passions. Some 
members suggested acquittal, others spoke of punish- 
ing by imprisonment or exile. Egalite, the infamous 
Orleans, incurred ignominy and contempt by adjudging 
his kinsman to death. After much debate, the members 
unanimously pronounced that i Louis Capet ' was 
guilty. The Girondists imagined that, although voting 
that the king was guilty, they might save his life 
by moving that there should be an appeal to the 
people. This weak device was rejected by a large 
majority. The only question now regarded the nature 
of the punishment. From the cries with which the 
clubs and the streets resounded, no one could doubt 



1 84 • FRANCE. 

what that would be. In 721 votes, there was a majority 
of 45 for the punishment of death. 

The matter was not yet ended. The votes had to be 
verified, and the day of execution fixed. The protracted 
proceedings did not terminate until the 20th January, 
when it was decided that the execution should take 
place next day. A deputation from the Convention, 
accompanied by the ferocious Santerre, as commissioner 
from the municipality, attended at the Temple, and 
officially announced the sentence of death, which was 
to be executed next morning. The king asked for a 
respite of three days to prepare for the scaffold. It 
was refused. A request to be allowed an interview 
with his family, and that he might receive the visits of 
a confessor, was granted, after communicating with the 
Convention. The sad interview of the king with his 
family, which took place at eight in the evening, 
was of the most affecting nature. At the end of two 
hours, the family, with sighs and tears, parted, never 
more to meet on earth. Early next morning, the king 
received the consolations of religion from the Abbe 
Edgeworth. At nine o'clock, Santerre came to convey 
him to execution. Environed by an immense military 
force, to keep back the crowd, the king was driven in 
a carriage, during a tedious procession, to the Place 
Louis XV., the name of which had been changed to 
that of Place de la Resolution. In the centre of this 
open space, the scaffold was erected. Before submitting 
himself to the executioners, the king attempted to 
address the assembled multitude ; but an officer ordered 
the drums to beat, and he stopped. Receiving the final 
benediction of the venerable abbe, who accompanied 
him : ' Son of St Louis, ascend to heaven/ in a few 



1 793-1 EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI 185 

moments Louis XVI. perished by the axe of the guillo- 
tine, 2 1 st January 1793. 

Thus died Louis XVI. on a public scaffold in the 
thirty-ninth year of his age, the victim of a revolution 
which his virtues and easy disposition unfitted him to 
control, and against which he had been left to struggle 
unaided. No sooner was the execution effected, than 
the ferocious rabble rushed forward and dipped their 
pikes and handkerchiefs in the blood, and one actually 
tasted it. Portions of the hair and clothes were sold 
by the executioners, and carried off with shouts of Ca 
ira ! and Vive la Republique ! The remains of the king 
were immediately interred in the ancient cemetery of 
the Madeleine, where now stands the elegant modern 
church of that name. 

When the intelligence of the execution of Louis 
XVI. spread abroad, the whole of Europe was moved 
with horror and astonishment. Shortly before the 
outbreak of the Revolution, a numerous and respect- 
able party in England, including Burke and Pitt, had 
begun to conceive plans of parliamentary reform. The 
disorganisation in France at once turned the current of 
opinion. Alarmed by the spread of republican doctrines, 
by the audacious proclamations of the Convention, also 
by the encroachment on the treaty with Holland, the 
British government prepared for extremities. The exe- 
cution of Louis XVI. left no room, as it was thought, 
for hesitation. The French ambassador received orders 
to quit London, February 1, 1793. The Convention 
responded by declaring war against England and Holland. 
Thus the French war was begun, that, with a short 
intermission, lasted for the space of twenty years. 

In entering upon this tremendous contest, the British 



186 FRANCE. 

government is now generally believed to have been too 
precipitate. No doubt, the proclamations of the Con- 
vention were irritating; they had already stirred up a 
widespread sedition, which threatened danger to the 
state. On the other hand, England had acted indis- 
creetly in entering into a treaty with Holland to shut 
the navigation of the Scheldt, thereby as effectually 
ruining Antwerp as London would be if deprived of the 
Thames. As regards the execution of Louis XVI. , 
however much the perpetrators of that barbarity were 
to be execrated, the event, including the change from 
monarchy to a republic, would not now be deemed a 
valid reason for going to war. It may perhaps be 
admitted that Mr Pitt acted for the best in the exceed- 
ingly critical state of affairs. But the government over 
which he presided were evidently not at all aware of 
the power of their opponents, or the length to which 
the struggle would be carried. 

The French armies were no longer a soldiery led by 
titled commanders with old-fashioned notions of strategy. 
They were forces animated with a species of demoniac 
frenzy, conducted from victory to victory by generals of 
uncommon ability. An entirely new order of men had 
arisen in France. Society was in a sense turned upside 
down. Daring spirits, who would otherwise have drawn 
out life obscurely in country towns, were now at the 
head of affairs in the capital; and with a strange mix- 
ture of patriotism, savagery, and delusion, were wholly 
regardless of consequences. In entering on the war, 
England soon felt that, with such antagonists, it had 
involved itself in a struggle for existence. 

The most remarkable of these revolutionists was 
Robespierre. He was born at Arras in 1758, and with 



1 793.] R OBESPIERRE. 1 87 

a fair education was bred a country attorney. Elected 
to the States-general, he began his political career. He 
was small in person, with a sharp countenance marked by 
small-pox; his forehead receded considerably; and while 
engaged in debate, his lips quivered with the eagerness 
of his feelings. Vanity was one of his ruling passions. 
He dressed tastefully, wore hair-powder, and in his 
apartment were numerous mirrors, in which he could see 
himself whichever way he turned. Some of his tastes indi- 
cated gentleness and kindliness. He was fond of flowers, 
and usually had one stuck in his button-hole. He was 
attached to animals, and walked out in a spirit of kind- 
ness with a favourite dog. In his habits, he was frugal ; 
did not get into debt; and was known to help his poorer 
neighbours. He had the reputation of being incor- 
ruptible. Neither bribe nor personal intercession could 
influence him. With these good qualities, Robespierre 
was nevertheless a monster. His speeches counselled 
measures the most violent and unjust. Relying for popu- 
larity on the mob, the burden of his harangues was, that 
the humbler classes were oppressed by tyrants, while 
in reality no one was a greater tyrant than himself. 
Society could only be purified by sweeping to destruc- 
tion all who partook of the quality of aristocrats, What 
he wanted was three hundred thousand heads. He had 
a brother in the Convention, ordinarily known as 
Robespierre the younger, who supported him in his 
savage projects. 

Danton, the next great leader of the anarchists, was 
unlike Robespierre, for he was devoid of honest prin- 
ciple. With a herculean frame, and a voice like the 
roar of a bull, he was bold, ambitious, and went beyond 
all others in audacity. He was the author of the 



1 88 FRANCE, 

memorable saying, as applied to revolutions : 6 De Vaudace, 
encore de I'audace, toujours de VaudaceP With audacity, 
everything could be accomplished. Having been bred 
a barrister, he had an advantage in public speaking, and 
the circumstance of his being president of the Cordeliers 
gave him an influence in the Convention. 

Marat was a blood-thirsty ruffian, without a single 
good quality. He had been bred to medicine, which he 
studied at Edinburgh about the year 1774; and while in 
that city he wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled 
The Chains of Slavery. Until the Revolution broke 
out, he was not noted for extreme opinion. Catching 
the general frenzy, his malignant passions were roused, 
and he exceeded all bounds in his cry for vengeance. 
He lived by editing a journal, LAmi du Peuple (The 
Friend of the People), in which he advocated the 
commission of every species of atrocity. Like Robes- 
pierre, he had made up his mind to the fall of a certain 
number of heads : two hundred and eighty thousand 
was his calculation, which was moderate in comparison 
to what were the actual sacrifices. This Friend of the 
People was of the most ungainly aspect. He is 
described as filthy in his garb, with greasy hair, long 
nails at the ends of his dirty skinny fingers, and a 
hideous countenance \ all which peculiarities are said to 
have gone far to establish his popularity. 

St Just rivalled Marat in ferocity. He affected no 
sentimental esteem for the people. He was a sanguinary 
despot, who aimed at destroying all of superior rank, 
and lodging the supreme power in a republican oli- 
garchy. Knowing how easily the French are imposed 
on by delusive falsehoods, he inflamed them by the 
fabrication of lies of the wildest and most improbable 



1 793.] D ANTON, MARAT, ST JUST 189 

kind ; such as, that the king had caused many thousands 
of innocent citizens to be strangled and thrown into the 
Seine, and that 15,000 smugglers had been hanged by 
his orders. Whenever Robespierre, Danton, and the 
others wanted the concoction of a stirring falsehood, St 
Just was ready with his inventions. No one, on looking 
at him, could have imagined him to be so heartless and 
unprincipled. He had an elegant, gentlemanly air, 
with a countenance betokening a kind of melancholy 
benevolence. Yet, no more cruel tyrant ever domin- 
eered over a credulous and misguided people. 

If St Just might be termed the villain of the revolu- 
tionary drama, Anacharsis Clootz was the buffoon. By 
birth a Prussian, Clootz dissipated much of his fortune, 
came to Paris, and threw himself so deeply into the revo- 
lutionary mania as to act like a madman. He attracted 
attention by appearing at the bar of the Assembly in 
1790, followed by a band of Parisian porters, dressed in 
the costumes of different nations, and which he described 
as an ' Embassy from the Human Race.' On all occa- 
sions of public ceremonial, he appeared as the ' Orator 
of the Human Race,' which he preferred as his proper 
title. He constantly declaimed against Christianity, and 
declared that 6 his heart was French, and his soul sans- 
culottes/ 

Condorcet, an eminent French author and mathe- 
matician, plunged into the popular frenzy, and, lending 
his power of reasoning to the Jacobins, was one 
of those members of the Convention who urged that 
Louis XVI. should be put on his trial, and condemned 
to a life of imprisonment in chains. Fabre d'Eglantine, 
also a writer of some repute, equally distinguished him- 
self by his extreme political views. Collot d'Herbois, 



190 FRANCE. 

Couthon, and Carrier figure among the more rabid of 
the band of destructives. Hebert, who had been a 
check-taker at a theatre, and dismissed for dishonesty, 
was an eloquent preacher of insurrection. He edited a 
journal, the Pere Duchesne, which, abounding in the 
grossest ribaldry, was an immense favourite with the 
multitude. 

Of the Girondists and Moderates, little more need be 
said than that they incurred the reproach of having 
aided the Jacobins to rise to that degree of power which 
enabled the anarchical faction to do without them. To 
the Moderates belonged Bailly, Lafayette, and Dumourier. 
Shocked at the excesses which brought the king to the 
scaffold, Lafayette relinquished his military command, 
and left Paris for Flanders, but was taken prisoner by 
the Austrians, and conveyed to Olmiitz, where he re- 
mained for about five years. Dumourier, also an adhe- 
rent of constitutional monarchy, became disgusted with 
the proceedings of the Convention. Accused of being 
a traitor while commanding in the north, he was ordered 
to come to Paris. This request he prudently declined, 
and, accompanied by the Duke de Chartres, son of 
Egalite, took refuge in the ranks of the Austrians, March 

1793- 

Greatly enraged by the defection of Dumourier, the 
Jacobins, finding that the ordinary modes of trial were 
too formal and slow in their operations, instituted an 
extraordinary tribunal which shoald promptly extermi- 
nate the enemies of the republic. The Girondists, now 
seriously alarmed for their personal safety, tried unsuc- 
cessfully to prevent the establishment of so despotic a 
power. This terrible court of justice — or, more properly, 
injustice — which came to be known as the Revolutionary 



1 793.] THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL. 191 

Tribunal, was decreed March 10, 1793, and to it was 
appointed Fouquier-Tinville as public accuser, a man 
who had only one pleasure in existence — that of record- 
ing a sentence of death. On the 21st of the same 
month, the Convention decreed, that in each of the 
48,000 communes in France, the inhabitants should 
elect a committee of twelve persons, to search, by 
domiciliary visits, for enemies to the republic, and to 
take them before provincial revolutionary tribunals, 
which were invested with the power of carrying out 
sentences of death. On the 24^ a General Committee 
of Public Safety was decreed for the whole of France. 
These, and some other measures placed the lives of the 
whole people at the mercy of the Jacobins, and those 
who subserviently courted their favour. According to 
Marat, it was thus necessary ' to organise the despotism 
of liberty to overthrow the despotism of kings.' 

If there were any despots left in France, they did not 
belong to royalty. Louis XVI. was in his grave; his 
unhappy family were strictly imprisoned in the Temple ; 
the Bourbons who had fled were banished by decree; any 
one who should attempt a restoration of monarchy was to 
suffer the penalty of death ; Philippe Egalite, though con- 
tinuing to sit in the Convention, was under surveillance. 
The French, however, must always have some one to 
bear the blame of their misfortunes. Marat, the tribune 
of the people, discovered that the dearth of food was 
caused by monopolisers and shopkeepers. In his journal 
of 25th March, he recommended sharp measures with 
these daring criminals, as he called them. 'In every 
country/ he said, ' where the rights of man are not empty 
titles, ostentatiously recorded in a mere declaration, the 
plunder of a few shops, and the hanging of the forestalled 



192 FRANCE. 

at their doors, would soon put a stop to those malversa- 
tions which are driving five millions of men to despair, 
and causing thousands to perish for* want.' The mob 
readily took the hint. They began by insisting that all 
prices should be reduced one-half, and purchases were 
forcibly made at that rate. The next step was to take 
articles without payment, and, March 26, there was a 
general plunder of the grocers' shops, until the riot was 
quelled by a military force. Violent disputes as to the 
cause of the disturbance took place in the Convention. 
Marat was accused of inciting the rabble, and sent for 
trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal, where, being 
acquitted, he was carried in triumph, shoulder-high, to 
the hall of the Convention, April 13. 

At this period, France was surrounded on all sides by 
foreign enemies. On the 9th March, a coalition was 
formed against it by England, Austria, Prussia, Hol- 
land, Spain, Portugal, the Two Sicilies, the Roman 
States, Sardinia, and Piedmont. To meet so formid- 
able a confederacy by forces at sea and land, a 
rigorous system of conscription was instituted, which 
proved distasteful in various places, particularly in La 
Vendee, a district in the south-west of France, bounded 
on one side by the Atlantic, and partly embraced in the 
valley of the Loire. In this quarter, the Revolution 
had never been popular. The inhabitants consisted 
chiefly of small farmers, a prosperous and contented 
race, living under a body of kind landlords, who, unlike 
the absentee seigneurs in other provinces, lived habit- 
ually on their estates, and maintained an agreeable 
intercourse with their tenants. Attached to their land- 
lords, their religion, and the old monarchical govern- 
ment, the people shrunk from taking any part in the 



1 793-1 WAR IN LA VENDEE, 193 

revolutionary movement. They remained tranquil until 
1 7 91, when the Constituent Assembly declared that the 
clergy should take the civic oath. The carrying out 
of this decree produced violent ebullition ; but there 
was nothing like actual rebellion until the Convention 
enacted new and stringent measures for raising men for 
the republican army. On the 10th March 1793, the 
day allotted for drawing the conscripts, an outbreak 
took place. Such was the beginning of that remarkable 
civil war in La Vendee, memorable for the heroic 
exploits of Cathelineau, Charette, and Henri Laroche- 
jaquelein, which did not close until 1795. The resist- 
ance offered by the brave Vendeans invites the 
mournful consideration, that, had Louis XVI. put 
himself at the head of this army of provincials, and the 
royalists everywhere rallied to his standard, his fate, as 
well as the fate of France, might have been very 
different. 

Attacks by foreign enemies, the civil war in La 
Vendee, the defection of Dumourier, accounts of fresh 
disasters in San Domingo, and the troubled state of Paris, 
might well give concern. Threatened on every hand, 
the Jacobins were a match for it all. Committees of 
Public Safety, revolutionary tribunals, and guillotines 
were at work throughout the country. To attain an 
unchallenged predominance, the Jacobins now resorted 
to the plan of getting rid of the Girondists. In this 
they were helped by an accident. The misrule of the 
commune of Paris induced the Convention, on the 
15th May 1793, to appoint a commission of twelve to 
inquire into the source of the disorders. Ascertaining 
that Hebert was deeply concerned in the insurrec- 
tionary movements, he was arrested, and put in prison. 

M 



194 FRANCE. 

Forthwith ensued an extraordinary commotion, in which 
was heard the cry of i Down with the Girondists/ Under 
the intimidation of an armed mob, 31st May, a majority 
of the Convention decreed the arrest of thirty Girondists, 
and several other orders for arrest followed. Some of 
the party escaped before they could be conducted to 
prison, but they were caught after wandering about and 
undergoing much suffering. 

The end of May was also signalised by an insurrec- 
tion in Corsica, and an insurrection at Lyons against 
the Jacobins. The Reign of Terror had commenced. 
Marat was daily pouring forth his incitements to renewed 
horrors, when he himself was cut off. Charlotte Corday, 
a young woman of prepossessing appearance and good 
reputation, was living in Caen, when a party of the 
proscribed Girondists passed in their flight through 
Normandy. Her hatred of the monstrosities of the 
Jacobins was intensified by conversing with the unfor- 
tunate fugitives, and she conceived the idea of travelling 
to Paris, and slaying either Robespierre or Marat. Her 
selection of Marat was determined by the fact of his 
having announced a demand for a hundred or two 
hundred thousand more victims for the guillotine. 
Arrived in Paris, and provided with a dagger, she twice 
sought admission to Marat unsuccessfully; but on the 
third occasion, 13th July 1793, was admitted on the plea 
that she had important news from Caen to communi- 
cate. She found Marat in his bath, who, to some state- 
ments she made, declared that the Girondists who had 
fled to Normandy, some of whom were her own friends, 
would be guillotined in a few days. She no longer 
hesitated, but plunged her dagger into the monster's 
heart, and he died without a groan. Making no attempt 



1 793J CHARLOTTE CORDAY. 195 

to escape, she was at once arrested, and brought before 
the Revolutionary Tribunal, where she boldly avowed 
and justified her act. She was of course condemned to 
the guillotine, and the sentence was carried into effect 
17th July 1793. The 'great patriot/ as Robespierre 
called Marat, was honoured with a public funeral. 

The proscription of the Girondists roused a spirit of 
resistance in various parts of the south of France, where 
they were held in esteem, and a jealousy entertained of 
the Jacobin extravagances. Lyons, which has latterly 
been remarkable for its extreme democratic tendencies, 
in the autumn of 1793, attempted to hold out against 
the decrees of the Convention ; but was captured after a 
long resistance, 10th October, and subjected to innumer- 
able horrors, inflicted by a body of commissioners, 
headed by Couthon, Fouche, and Collot d'Herbois. 
This last-mentioned was an actor, and had a deep 
grudge against the city, in consequence of having, ten 
years previously, been hissed off the stage. Now was the 
time for his revenge. Aided by an armed force, and by 
the most worthless of the population, the commissioners 
resolved to destroy the town, and exterminate all above 
the humblest position. Couthon was the captain of the 
band. Like a destroying angel he traversed the streets, 
carrying in his hand a silver hammer, with which he 
struck the door of each house that was to be levelled 
with the ground; immediately, a mark with chalk was 
made, and the building demolished. Thus were all the 
finer mansions and palaces of Lyons capriciously de- 
stroyed, their value, as is estimated, having been at least 
^700,000. By Fouche and Collot d'Herbois, scenes of 
dramatic horror were enacted. The churches were dese- 
crated by offensive orgies, the crucifixes and copies of the 



196 FRANCE. 

gospel were burned on the altars, the consecrated bread 
trampled under foot, and an ass with the sacred vessels 
hung round its neck was driven derisively through the 
town. We have not space to describe the destruction 
of human life. The guillotine being not sufficiently 
rapid in its evolutions, whole crowds were destroyed by 
the fire of artillery. Upwards of six thousand persons 
were killed, and far larger numbers were ruined. 

At Nantes, which had provoked republican vengeance 
by its connection with the successes of the Vendeans, 
there were about the same time even worse atrocities 
committed by Carrier, a man of infamous character. 
By his orders, there was an almost indiscriminate guil- 
lotining of men, women, and children. To vary the 
cruelty, this inhuman wretch caused men and women 
to be stripped naked, bound together, and drowned, 
which he called ' republican marriages. ' Another species 
of drowning was his noyades, or ' republican baptisms,' 
which consisted in putting some hundreds of children, 
along with men and women, into the hold of a vessel, 
and then sinking it in a deep part of the Loire, where 
the whole were drowned. In one month, fifteen thou- 
sand persons perished ; and the total number killed in 
and about Nantes, during the Reign of Terror, was 
upwards of thirty thousand. So many mutilated bodies 
were thrown into the Loire, that the river was red with 
blood, and this horrid discoloration extended several 
miles into the sea, while the thousands of floating 
, carcases were the prey of sharks, and of flights of 
vultures which hovered over the waves. 

The fate of the surviving members of the royal family 
now calls for notice. On the execution of Louis XVI., 
the dauphin was acknowledged to be king in all the 



I793-] LOUIS XVII. 197 

courts of Europe; and by the armies fighting against 
the Republic he was proclaimed by the title of Louis 
XVII. At the same time, his uncle, Monsieur, the 
Count de Provence (he who afterwards became Louis 
XVIIL), assumed the position of Regent. All these 
titular dignities were of no avail in mitigating the 
sufferings of the poor boy and the other royal captives 
in the Temple. The whole were under the charge of 
the commune, or municipality, which, by various mean 
agents, subjected them to the most cruel privations. 
At the death of the king, they were allowed to put on 
mourning, which was the only indulgence granted. It 
was a consolation that they were permitted to remain 
together; but even this was at length denied them. 
At ten o'clock at night on the 3d July 1793, six 
commissaries entered their apartments with an order 
to separate 'the son of Capet* from his mother, and 
consign him to the guardianship of a person named 
Simon. The child was ill and asleep in bed ; over the 
posts the queen had hung a shawl, to guard his eyes 
from the light, by which she and the Princess Elizabeth 
were mending their clothes. The noise made by the 
commissaries awakened the child, who clung to his 
mother for protection. Entreaties to leave him till next 
day were harshly disregarded. Only a few minutes 
were allowed to put on his dress. When about to 
relinquish him into the hands of the men, who were 
coarsely expressing their impatience, the queen addressed 
him in a few solemn words : ' My child, we are about to 
part. Bear in mind all I have said to you of your 
duties when I shall be no longer near you to repeat it 
Never forget God, who thus tries you ; nor your mother, 
who loves you. Be good, patient, kind, and your father 



198 FRANCE, 

will look down from heaven and bless you.' So saying, 
she kissed him, and parted from him for ever. 

Leaving for the present the young fair-haired dauphin, 
we turn to the fate of the captive queen, whose unjusti- 
fiable maltreatment had everywhere, except in France, 
excited deep emotions of compassion. In England, all 
persons of sensibility were profoundly affected, none 
more so than Edmund Burke, whose striking picture of 
the reverses of this unfortunate princess will ever be 
held in remembrance. ' It is now/ said he, ' sixteen or 
seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then 
the dauphiness, at Versailles ; and surely never lighted 
on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, so fair a 
vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating 
and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to 
move in; glittering like the morning star, full of life, 
and splendour, and joy. Oh, what a revolution ! and 
what a heart must I have to contemplate, without emo- 
tion, that elevation and that fall ! Little did I dream, 
when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusi- 
astic distant love, that she should ever ,be obliged to 
carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in 
that bosom ; little did I dream that I should have lived 
to see such disasters fallen upon her, in a nation of 
gallant men — in a nation of honour and of cavaliers. I 
thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from 
their scabbards to avenge even a look which threatened 
her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone ; that 
of sophists, economists, and calculators has succeeded, 
and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. Never 
more shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and 
sex — that proud submission, that dignified obedience, 
that subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even 



1 793-] EXECUTION OF MARIE ANTOINETTE, 199 

in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom. The 
unb ought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the 
nurse of manly sentiment is gone. It is gone, that sen- 
sibility of principle, that chastity of honour, which felt a 
stain like a wound; which inspired courage, while it 
mitigated ferocity ; which ennobled whatever it touched, 
and under which vice itself lost half its evil, by losing 
all its grossness.' 

On the 2d August, the queen experienced a fresh 
grief; she was parted from her daughter, the Princess 
Royal, and her sister-in-law, the Princess Elizabeth, and 
removed to the Conciergerie, preparatory to her trial. 
A narrow damp cell was now the residence of Marie 
Antoinette. Here she was detained until the 14th 
October, on which day she was brought before her 
judges in the Revolutionary Tribunal. The accusations 
against her chiefly were, that she had interfered in state 
affairs and influenced her husband. No precise fact 
could be brought against her. The efforts made by 
Chaveau Lagarde, her advocate, were unavailing. She 
was condemned to death. Conducted back to prison, 
a brief period separated her from eternity. On the 
morning of the 16th October, she was taken from her 
wretched cell for execution. Though she had cut off 
her hair, and her features were pale and emaciated, she, 
still in her dignity and composure, was worthy of admira- 
tion. Dressed in white, she was placed in a cart with 
her hands tied behind her, and conducted by a circuitous 
route to the Place de la Re'volution. Crowds thronging 
the thoroughfare to see her pass, yelled with exulta- 
tion when she made her appearance ; but no cries dis- 
turbed her in this her transit from life to death. At 
the spot where her husband had perished she ascended 



2co FRANCE. 

the scaffold, giving only a look for a moment towards 
the Tuileries. With courage she submitted to the 
executioners; one of whom, with heartless barbarity, 
exhibited her head to the people. 

It was the Girondists' turn next. Secured in various 
ways, they were, by a" decree of the Convention, tried 
before the Revolutionary Tribunal at Paris. The trial, 
beginning on the 19th October, lasted nine days. But 
for the look of the thing, they might as well not have 
been tried at all. The whole, as a matter of course, 
were condemned. Valaze stabbed himself when sen- 
tence was pronounced, but his body was ordered to 
be guillotined with the others. The trial and sentence 
of the leading members of this renowned party caused 
more excitement than had been previously witnessed. 

Their last night spent together in prison is said by a 
French historian (M. Thiers), to have been ' sublime.' 
It seems, on the contrary, to have been unbecoming 
rational beings placed in their situation. They sang 
hymns to France and liberty, and there is no evidence 
that any of them repented of having voted for the death 
of the king, or for aiding to bring about that convulsion 
which was laying the country waste. Clinging to their 
Utopian ideas to the last, they affected a Roman 
resolution, and, as they marched in a body to execution, 
they sang a parody on the Marseillaise, derisive of the 
Jacobins ; and died with a shout of Vive la Republique! 
on their lips. The whole were executed in thirty-one 
minutes. 

There might be some pity for the generous and infa- 
tuated Girondists, but none for the next victim of the 
guillotine, Philippe Egalite. Giving way to an intrinsic 
wickedness of character, he voted for all the violent 



1 793-] EXECUTION OF MADAME ROLAND. 201 

measures of the Jacobins, and helped them to foment 
disorders everywhere. Having served their purpose, 
they found it desirable to send him to the guillotine. 
Billaud Varennes denounced him in the Convention 
as having aided the defenders of Lyons and the insur- 
rectionists in La Vendee, and craved that Egalite might 
be handed to the Revolutionary Tribunal for trial. The 
proposal was unanimously supported. Egalite was tried, 
condemned, and executed, November 6, 1793 — meeting 
his fate with stoical fortitude, and leaving none in 
France to mourn his loss. 

About this time, there was a vigilant proscription of 
celebrities. Among these was Condorcet, who, knowing 
what would be his fate, concealed himself in the house 
of a friend in Paris ; but feeling that his generous pro- 
tector was incurring an extreme risk in his behalf, he set 
out, was arrested, and, to save himself from the guillo- 
tine, took poison, which he carried about his person, 
and died in prison. Madame Roland, who had for 
some time been imprisoned, was condemned, and con- 
ducted to the guillotine, November 9. When about to 
ascend the scaffold, she apostrophised a gigantic statue 
of Liberty : ' O Liberty ! how many crimes are com- 
mitted in thy name ! ' M. Roland, her husband, who 
had been minister under Louis XVI. , a«nd also under 
the Republic in the early part of 1793, did not long 
survive her. Wandering about in the neighbourhood of 
Rouen, he sat down by the side of a tree, where he was 
found dead, having, in his despair, stabbed himself to 
the heart. Bailly, a venerable magistrate, who had been 
president of the States-general, and ever upheld the law, 
was condemned ; neither his philanthropy nor services 
to science being of avail to save him. His death was 



202 FRANCE. 

accompanied by harrowing circumstances. When led 
to the scaffold in the Place de la Revolution, the mob 
insisted that he should be beheaded in the Champ de 
Mars. The scaffold was accordingly taken down and 
removed, the poor victim walking behind it in a bitter 
storm, and often falling from cold and fatigue. After a 
journey of two hours, amidst a drenching fall of snow 
and sleet, Bailly was released from all his earthly 
troubles by the guillotine. 

In the midst of the work of carnage, the Convention 
had sufficient composure to institute a new era, that of 
the French Republic. A decree to this effect was 
passed on the 5th October, but the new reckoning did 
not come into operation until 6th November. The 
Christian era, with the ordinary arrangement of months 
and weeks, was wholly laid aside. The weekly Sab- 
bath, the oldest institution on earth, was abolished, 
and to be no more heard of. It was ordained that the 
new era should date from the 2 2d September 1792, 
which was to be the first day of the year I. — the epoch 
of the foundation of the republic. The year was to 
consist of twelve months of thirty days each, with five 
complementary days to complete an ordinary year, and 
a sixth complementary day in leap-years. To the 
months were given names significant of the weather or 
the seasons. Beginning with the autumn, September 
2 2d, they were as follows: Vendemiaire, vintage month; 
Brumaire, fog month ; Frimaire, sleet month ; Nivose, 
snow month ; Pluviose, rain month ; Ventose, wind 
month ; Germinal, blossom month ; Floreal, flower 
month ; Prairial, meadow month ; Messidor, harvest 
month ; Thermidor, hot month ; Fructidor, fruit month. 
Each month was divided into three parts, called decades. 



1 793.] WORSHIP OF REASON. 203 

The first day of a decade was called Primidi ; the second, 
Duodi ; and so on. The last day, called Decadi, was to 
be a holiday. The complementary days at the end of 
the year were to be festivals in honour of labour, genius, 
and other matters in popular estimation. 

Already, according to the practice of the French in 
their revolutions, there had been an alteration in the 
names of streets and places of public resort, and emblems 
of the fallen dynasty had been removed. By a decree, 
the Convention went a step farther. It ordered the 
destruction of the tombs of the kings at St Denis ; and 
this act of barbarism was carried out by the commune, 
aided by the mob and a military force. Tombs of the 
kings of France from the earliest ages of the monarchy 
— also those of the most distinguished generals in French 
annals — were broken open, and their contents scattered 
to the winds. The embalmed body of Henri Quatre was 
found in good preservation, shewing the wounds inflicted 
by Ravaillac. It was thrown, with other remains, into 
a vast trench, and consumed with quick-lime. The 
church was plundered of all its jewellery and ornaments, 
and its carvings were grievously defaced. 

The next novelty was an attempt to abjure Christi- 
anity, and set up in its stead the worship of Reason. 
The Convention, however, abstained from this folly. 
Chaumette and Hebert were the apostles of this new 
creed, in which they had a powerful auxiliary in 
Anacharsis Clootz. Through the agency of this trium- 
virate, there took place a public ceremonial, in which 
there was a renunciation of the old forms of belief. 
This was followed by converting the cathedral of Notre 
Dame into a Temple of Reason. A festival was to take 
place on each Decadi. The first was held 20th Brumaire 



204 FRANCE, 

(November 10), and attended by the civic authorities. 
The goddess of Reason, represented by a young woman 
dressed in gaudy drapery, with a cap of liberty on her 
head, and raised on a species of throne, received the 
homage of the assembled votaries. The Orator of the 
Human Race was in his glory as a kind of master of the 
ceremonies. Chaumette delivered an address on the 
grandeur of the new ideas \ and pointing to the goddess 
as the incarnation of Reason, gave her the fraternal kiss, 
amidst universal shouts of Vive la Repitblique I Similar 
absurdities were enacted in other parts of France. 
Deputies visited the communes, everywhere seizing and 
carrying off the church plate, and other objects of value, 
on behalf of the state. To crown all, marriage was 
declared a civil contract, which could be broken at 
pleasure. 

With armies on the Rhine and Moselle, in La Vendee, 
the borders of Spain, Italy, Flanders, and at Toulon, 
the central power did not relax in its murderous policy, 
but ever seemed to receive a fresh impulse, whether 
from military success or defeat. On one pretext or 
other, Robespierre denounced friends and foes; and 
Fouquier-Tinville, with increasing zest, recorded the 
lists of condemned. Ordinarily, the trial of an accused 
did not last three minutes. Great numbers had only 
their names called, and were not allowed to speak a 
single word in their defence. 

In the early part of 1794, Barnave, Biron, Malesherbes, 
D'Espremenil, and other distinguished personages, fol- 
lowed each other in rapid succession to the scaffold. 
Next in turn were Hebert, Vincent, Ronsin, Momoro, 
Clootz, and fifteen others, who were charged with trying 
to bring ridicule on the republic. They were executed 



1 794.] FJETE OF THE SUPREME BEING. 205 

in a batch. On being brought to the scaffold, the Orator 
of the Human Race preferred to be the last to be guillo- 
tined, as he wished to establish certain principles while 
observing the process of beheading his companions; 
in which whim he was graciously indulged. The next 
were Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Lacroix, Herault de 
Sechelles, and Westermann. When Danton was seized 
and put into a cell, he made the remark : e I now see 
that in revolutions the greatest rascal lives last.' The 
whole died with the usual fortitude, April 5, 1794. Next 
were Chaumette, Gobel (the apostate bishop of Paris), 
Dillon, and the widow of Camille Desmoulins. There 
was now a universal despair of life. No one could trust 
his neighbour. There were in Paris eight thousand 
prisoners, and more than two hundred thousand through- 
out France. Crowds of old and young, of both sexes and 
of every rank in life, were capriciously condemned and 
executed. The Princess Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI., 
perished by the guillotine, 16th May 1794. 

Robespierre expressed his strong dislike of the wor- 
ship of Reason. He professed to be a deist; and by 
way of shewing his religious feelings, as well as intro- 
ducing a kind of interlude into the revolutionary drama, 
he persuaded the Convention to get up a magnificent 
fete in honour of the Supreme Being. At this fete, 
which took place 7th June 1794, Robespierre presided, 
and, by the assembled multitude, was treated almost 
like a demigod. He, Couthon, and St Just had now 
unchallenged power. Executions increased in number. 
For a time, the operations of the guillotine had formed 
an amusing sight. Bands of women seated themselves 
round the scaffold, where, in consequence of employing 
themselves in knitting during the spectacle, they were 



206 FRANCE. 

familiarly known as les tricoteuses. At length, the fre- 
quency of the executions, and the streams of blood which 
had to be conducted to the Seine, gave dissatisfaction, 
and the place of execution was .several times shifted. 
Twelve hundred and eighty-five persons were guillotined 
in Paris from the ioth June to the 17th July. 

A terrible sense of alarm crept over the Convention. 
All except two or three members were likely to be 
proscribed. Tallien, Bourdon de l'Oise, Thuriot, 
Freron, Barras, Cambon, and some others, understood 
that they were marked out as victims. Taking cour- 
age, they denounced Robespierre as a monster who 
plotted their general destruction. It was a daring thing 
to do ; but Tallien succeeded in ordering him to be 
arrested. Robespierre took refuge in the H6tel-de-Ville. 
There, while beginning to write a proclamation to rouse 
the sections, a party rushed in upon him, and one of 
them shot him in the jaw with a pistol. Henriot (a 
leader in the commune), Couthon, St Just, Robespierre 
the younger, and several others, were also seized. 
Taken to the hall of the Convention (which was now in 
the Tuileries), with his broken jaw bandaged, Robes- 
pierre lay stretched a helpless object on a table, while, 
as is said, the clerks inhumanly pricked him with their 
pen-knives. Condemned to death, he was conducted 
to the scaffold amidst the vociferous execrations of the 
populace who had previously been his adulators. This 
scourge of mankind and his miserable associates, twenty- 
seven in number, were guillotined 28th July 1794. 
Next day, a large remainder of his party, numbering 
seventy-three, were guillotined. 

The fall of Robespierre having, according to the 
republican calendar, taken place on the 9th Thermidor, 



1794-1 END OF REIGN OF TERROR. 207 

the party who accomplished his overthrow are usually 
spoken of as the Thermidorians. With their ascend- 
ency, along with a general conviction that matters had 
gone too far, the ' Terror ' came to an end, and moderate 
measures ensued. As an act of justice, the Convention 
caused Fouquier-Tinville to be tried for cruelty: he, 
Carrier, and fourteen jurymen of the Revolutionary 
Tribunal, were condemned and executed in less than 
a week from the fall of Robespierre. Collot d'Herbois, 
Billaud Varennes, Vadier, and Barere, were condemned 
to be banished. The Convention forthwith expunged 
its more outrageous decrees. 

The number of persons destroyed one way or other 
during the revolutionary troubles, has been reckoned to 
be 1,027,106. The world has nothing to equal this in 
atrocity ; nor is there any such instance of a worthless 
faction terrifying the general community into submission. 
The fact is not less curious, that during the worst period 
of the Reign of Terror, all the theatres and other places 
of public entertainment in Paris were open and well 
attended. Another fact was peculiarly characteristic. 
The conclusion of the Reign of Terror was signalised 
by a ball, called Le Bal des Victimes, only those ladies 
being admitted who had lost relations by the guillotine ; 
at this brilliant assembly, the favourite mode of dressing 
the hair was to tie it up as if preparatory for execution. 

In September 1794, the whole of the Jacobin Clubs 
were suppressed. In the general reaction which took 
place, an effigy of Marat was burned, and its ashes, after 
being carried ignominiously through the streets, were 
thrown into a common sewer; subsequently, his body 
was ordered to be removed from the Pantheon. By 
the suppression of incendiary clubs, the Convention 



208 FRANCE. 

had some degree of peace, and was able to attend to 
the military affairs of the republic. The French armies 
in the north were continuing their victorious career 
against the Dutch, the Austrians, and the Prussians ; also 
against the English, who were under the command of 
the Duke of York. In the Netherlands, the French 
commander, Pichegru, astonished Europe by his dash 
and strategy. His most brilliant exploit was that of 
taking his forces across the Waal, a branch of the Rhine, 
on the ice, January 8, 1795, when tfie thermometer 
was at zero, conquering Holland at a blow, and adding 
it to the territory of the French republic. 

In May 1795, the Convention was exposed to the 
danger of dissolution by an armed mob, which broke 
into the hall and dispersed the meeting. Feraud, a 
young deputy, was struck down, and his head being cut 
off, was, in Parisian fashion, carried about on a pike. 
Fortunately, two committees sitting separately were able 
to defend themselves, otherwise there would have been 
a return to the Reign of Terror. Resuming its sittings, 
the Convention proscribed certain members — the rem- 
nant of the Mountain — for being concerned in this out- 
rage. Six of them were condemned to death. In 
going down-stairs from the place of trial, they stabbed 
themselves in turn with a knife which they had secreted 
and handed to each other. Two died outright; three 
others, with streaming wounds, were dragged to the 
scaffold. With the exception of a few who had gone 
over to the cause of order, the Mountain was now 
extirpated — killed off by detachments. 

Greatly to its discredit, the Convention left the young 
dauphin to the cruel treatment of the municipality of 
Paris. This poor boy had been assigned to the man 



1 795.] DEA TH OF LO UIS XVII. 209 

Simon, and was treated by him in a manner altogether 
brutal. Although another keeper was substituted for 
Simon, the treatment was not materially improved. 
Confined to a room almost devoid of light and air, and 
being sometimes days without food, the child sickened 
and was dying. A physician, by order of the commune, 
visited him, but it was too late. Faintly murmuring the 
name of his mother, he expired, 8th June 1795 — the 
death of this innocent child adding one more to the 
long list of crimes for which the nation is accountable. 
There is some slight satisfaction in knowing that Simon 
expiated his cruelties on the scaffold. The only member 
of the royal family now left was the princess royal. On 
the 25th December 1795, she was exchanged for some 
French prisoners in the hands of the Austrians, and 
lived at Vienna till her marriage, in 1799, with her 
cousin, the Duke d'Angouleme. 

Pondering on the evils which had resulted from rash 
legislation, the Convention resolved on effecting a 
change in the constitution. It was perceived that 
safety would only consist in a division of the legislature 
into two deliberative bodies; and there was a frank 
acknowledgment that the union in one chamber of all 
the orders in the States-general had been a blunder. 
The new constitution voted was to embrace a Council 
of Five Hundred, and a Council of Ancients, consisting of 
two hundred and fifty members — one body to propose 
laws, the other to consider, and either pass or reject 
them. Bills could only pass after three readings, with five 
days of interval between each. The executive was lodged 
in five Directors, each of whom was in succession to be 
president for three months. One-third of both Councils 
were to retire annually, and also one of the five Directors. , 

N 



210 FRANCE. 

The great mass of the nation regarded with indiffer- 
ence this re-organisation, which was in reality a Revolu- 
tion. Taking advantage of this state of things, the 
Royalists began an active agitation, and threatened to 
carry everything before them at the elections. To prevent 
this, the Convention determined to appoint two-thirds 
of the Councils for the first time from among its own 
members, and only leave a third to be chosen by popular 
vote. Furious at this, the Royalists, combining with the 
remnants of the Jacobins, and with others smarting under 
a dearth of provisions, organised an armed insurrection 
against the Convention. As this threatened to be a 
serious affair, the Convention employed General Menou 
to defend it with troops of the line. Menou proving 
inadequate, General Barras was appointed with full 
powers in his stead. Barras procured the assistance of 
Napoleon Bonaparte, a young officer of artillery, whose 
military genius he had seen exemplified at the siege of 
Toulon. Thus accidentally employed, young Bonaparte 
displayed extraordinary vigour. Skilfully surrounding 
the hall of the Convention by bodies of troops, he swept 
the quay of the Tuileries and other accesses with dis- 
charges of cannon — he sitting on horseback and directing 
every requisite movement. The slaughter of the insur- 
rectionists was great, but salutary. The mobs disap- 
peared as if by magic, and street tumults were at an 
end, 13th Vendemiaire, year IV. (4th October 1795). 
The Convention closed its sittings on the 25 th October, 
and was succeeded by the new regime of the Directory. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE REPUBLIC — DIRECTORY AND CONSULATE — 
1795 TO 1804. 

HHHE past six years had left an indelible mark on the 
■*■ country. Chateaux were in ruins; towns half 
destroyed; churches plundered and shut up, or occupied 
as stables or depots for merchandise ; schools deserted, 
and a generation growing up with little or no educa- 
tion; men of culture, and those who had exercised 
rule, chased away or killed ; persons who had occupied 
humble stations in life now at the helm of affairs ; and 
a general suffering past description — perhaps worse than 
all, a universal demoralisation; the decencies of religious 
observance proscribed and held in derision ; the weekly 
Sabbath obliterated ; instead of marriage, a general licen- 
tiousness. Indisputably, the revolutionists had rectified 
many gross abuses — but at what a cost? The immo- 
lation of upwards of a million human beings in circum- 
stances of unexampled barbarity, followed by a state 
of affairs productive of endless national disasters and 
humiliations. 

On entering on office, the Council of Five Hundred 
presented a list of fifty members, from whom the Council 
of Ancients was to elect five Directors. The five chosen 
included two men of note — Barras and Carnot. The 



212 FRANCE. 

Directory now proceeded to elect a ministry, and 
to consider that old subject of torment, the finances. 
The issue of assignats had reached an amount equal to 
eighteen hundred millions sterling, the exchangeable 
value of which was not more than about twenty millions. 
To pay the sum of one franc, a purchaser required to 
give from a hundred and fifty to two hundred francs in 
paper. Various attempts were made to redeem the 
mass of assignats, but all were abortive. The nation 
acknowledged itself to be bankrupt. Driven to ex- 
tremity, a forced loan was made, and some money was 
raised on confiscated property in Belgium. It was in 
such a condition of things that the civil service 
was conducted, and a huge military force maintained. 
As regards the armies, they were, as a matter of neces- 
sity, supported mainly by requisitions from the countries 
they invaded ; the doctrine laid down being, that war 
should support itself — in plain terms, the right of plunder 
on the line of march. 

As a relief to the pressure on the military department, 
General Hoche pacified La Vendee with some discreet 
concessions. Prussia had already broken off from the 
coalition against France, and Spain followed the example 
by entering into a treaty offensive and defensive with 
the French, and declaring war against Great Britain, 
2d October 1796. The only ally of any consequence 
which England now had was Austria, which required to 
be sustained by heavy subsidies. Assailed by a general 
clamour for peace, Mr Pitt despatched Lord Malmesbury 
to Paris to negotiate with the Directory. He offered to 
recognise the Republic, and to give up various conquests, 
while France should relinquish Holland and the Aus- 
trian Netherlands. The proposals were rejected; Lord 



1769.] BIRTH OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 213 

Malmesbury returned, and the war continued. General 
Hoche, with a large force, attempted to effect a landing 
in Ireland (December 1796), but the fleet was dispersed 
by a violent tempest, and the vessels returned to France. 

While the republican armies were manoeuvring, under 
Moreau, Jourdan, and Pichegru, on the Rhine and 
the borders of Germany, extraordinary successes were 
achieved in Italy by young Bonaparte, of whom we 
must now give some account. The young officer of 
artillery, who by volleys of grape-shot saved the 
Convention, and calmed the revolutionary spirit, was 
not a Frenchman by birth ; properly speaking, he was 
an Italian. Although the date of Napoleon's birth has 
been the subject of dispute, little doubt seems to be left 
that he was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the 15th 
August 1769, shortly after Corsica had been captured by 
the French. His father, Charles Buonaparte, was a 
respectable lawyer, who had married an accomplished 
Italian lady, Maria Letizia Ramolino, by whom he had a 
family of five sons, Joseph, Napoleon, Lucien, Louis, and 
Jerome, and three daughters. Napoleon — -who changed 
the family name to Bonaparte — was educated at the mili- 
tary school of Brienne, where he learned to speak French; 
and here he had for a school companion, M. de Bour- 
rienne, who became his biographer. To complete his 
studies, he removed to the military college at Paris. The 
department of the army to which he attached himself 
was the artillery, which he entered as a junior officer. 

Bonaparte's military ingenuity was first demon- 
strated at Toulon, a fortified seaport, which, as in the 
case of Lyons, had a distaste for the republic, and 
endured a siege from the forces sent to subdue it, 1793. 
The direction of the breaching batteries was assigned 



214 FRANCE. 

to Napoleon. He resorted to the expedient of taking 
possession of a high ground commanding the harbour, 
by which he forced the English and Spanish fleets, 
which had come to the succour of the place, to retire. 
The town was forced to capitulate, when, according 
to Jacobin usage, great cruelties were inflicted on the 
inhabitants. It was this manifestation of military skill 
which, as has been seen, procured the young artillery 
officer an opportunity of saving the Convention from out- 
rage, in October 1795. The overthrow of the Parisian 
insurrectionists led to a disarmament of the inhabitants. 
Among other things given up was the sword of Count 
Alexander de Beauh^rnais, who had been guillotined as 
an aristocrat. He had left a widow, Josephine, Madame 
de Beauharnais, and a son and daughter. Eugene, the 
son, a boy of ten years of age, presented himself one 
day to Bonaparte, who had been made General of the 
Interior, asking him for the restoration of his father's 
sword. This circumstance led Napoleon to visit 
Josephine, and an intimacy was formed, which led to 
their marriage, 9th March 1796. 

Josephine was a West Indian. She was born in the 
island of Martinique in June 1763, and now she was 
about thirty-three years of age. During the 'Terror,' 
when she lost her husband, her own life was saved only 
by the circumstance that Robespierre was guillotined 
while she was in prison. In this period of detention, she 
had for companion a lady who afterwards became the wife 
of Tallien. Through this lady's influence with Barras, 
the friend of Tallien, Napoleon was appointed to the 
command of the armies designed for the conquest of 
Italy, on which expedition he set out only a few days 
after his marriage. He was at Nice on the 27th of 



1796.] NAPOLEON'S FIRST ITALIAN CAMPAIGN. 215 

March, from which one army was pushed across the 
Ligurian Alps, while the other, commanded by himself, 
was conducted along the Corniche, a series of rocky 
slopes bearing an old narrow Roman road on the 
borders of the Mediterranean. 

Now began that brilliant Italian campaign, in which, 
with two ill-equipped armies, numbering only 36,000 men, 
Napoleon overcame 75,000 Austrians and Piedmontese. 
He won his first victories at Voltri on the nth, and 
Montenotte on the 12th, and at Millesimo on the 13th 
April; this last success separated 1 the allied armies; and, 
finally, his victory at Mondovi on the 2 2d compelled 
Sardinia to implore peace. He now hoped to utterly 
crush the Austrian army under Beaulieu, and at the battle 
of Lodi, on the 10th May, nearly accomplished it. His 
opponent did not dare to defend the line of the Mincio, 
but, hastily throwing a garrison into the city of Mantua, 
retreated into the Tyrol. Napoleon immediately entered 
Milan, and took possession besides of all the principal 
cities of Lombardy. Under orders from the Directpry, 
he commenced to levy contributions in money from the 
vanquished states, and to bring away articles connected 
with the fine arts. According to his own account, he 
sent to France not less than fifty million francs. His 
officers and commissaries actually seized whatever they 
wished — provisions, horses, and all manner of stores ; 
and because Pavia ventured to make some slight resist- 
ance to the shameful extortions of the Republicans, 
Napoleon gave it up to pillage for twenty-four hours ! 

In the course of his Italian campaign, Napoleon took 
possession of the Legations of Bologna, Ferrara, and 
Romagna, and afterwards of the March of Ancona ; 
and by a threatened advance upon Rome, he extorted 



216 FRANCE. 

from Pope Pius VI., by the treaty of Tolentino, 19th 
February 1797, the surrender of these provinces to the 
Cisalpine Republic, which he had formed of the con- 
quered states in the north of Italy. Besides these valu- 
able provinces, he exacted a heavy war contribution. 
The plunder of works of art was a new feature in war. 
A body of savants, including Monge and Berthollet, were 
despatched to Italy, to superintend the spoliation of its 
artistic treasures ; and both now and in the subsequent 
Italian campaigns, pictures, statues, and valuable old 
manuscripts were carried off in great numbers, to gratify 
Parisian sight-seers. In this way, Lombardy, Parma, 
Modena, Bologna, and the States of the Church were 
savagely harried. 

Austria made attempts to recover Lombardy, and the 
contest was severe during the summer and autumn of 

1796. At first the Austrians were successful; but their 
fortune turned at the battle of Areola, 17th November, 
which was won by the daring courage of Napoleon, 
assisted by Massena and Augereau. The defeat of Rivoli, 
14th January, and the surrender of Mantua, 2d February 

1797, completed the annihilation of their strength south 
of the Alps. In March 1797, the French were conducted 
by Napoleon in the direction of Vienna, and were within 
only eight days' march from that city, when the Austrian 
government made overtures of peace ; finally, on the 17th 
October 1797, the famous treaty of Campo-Formio was 
signed, by which Austria ceded the Netherlands, with 
the Rhine boundary, Lombardy, and some smaller 
territories, to France; while, in return, Austria was 
allowed to take possession of Venice. 

While Bonaparte was establishing his military reputa- 
tion by his brilliant successes, a coup d'etat, known as 



I797J REVOLUTION OF i&& FRUCTIDOR. 217 

the Revolution of the 18th Fructidor, was effected in 
Paris. To understand the nature of this political over- 
turn, we must go back a little. The grape-shot of 
Napoleon, on the 13th Vendemiaire, did not extinguish 
either the royalists or the Jacobins. It only for a time 
drove them out of sight ; each party waited its oppor- 
tunity to serve its own purposes. The Jacobins were 
the first to make themselves heard. A man called 
Babceuf, who assumed the title of Tribune of the People, 
edited a paper, in which he advocated an equal dis- 
tribution of property, and other anarchical doctrines. 
Meetings of demagogues also began to plan insurrec- 
tions, with the view of re-establishing a fresh Reign of 
Terror. By a degree of salutary vigour, in May 1796, 
Babceuf and other leaders of the party were seized, and 
brought to trial; some were condemned to death, and 
several were banished. Still these measures did not 
attain the desired end. An armed rabble attempted to 
upset the Directory, expecting that the troops would 
fraternise with them. In this they were disappointed. 
The body of insurrectionists was cut down and dispersed 
by dragoons ; those who were captured being disposed 
of by a military commission. 

Ever since the fall of Robespierre, the reactionary feel- 
ing had been gaining ground, and by 1797, the counter- 
revolutionists having a tendency towards royalty had 
acquired the ascendency. At the same time, the minority 
in the Councils, and several of the Directors, were men 
determined to maintain the principles of the Revolution 
by any means, however violent. Hence grew up a con- 
spiracy to effect a coup d'etat The ringleaders were 
Barras, Lepaux, and Rewbell, three Directors. : Shrink- 
ing from an illegal act, Carnot took no part in the 



218 FRANCE. 

enterprise. Talleyrand, who was minister of foreign 
affairs, was among the most prominent of the instigators. 
To carry out the object promptly and effectively, General 
Augereau was appointed to the command of the military 
division which comprehended the capital. 

All parts of the plot being matured, 12,000 troops 
were marched into Paris, and early next morning, 18th 
Fructidor, year V. (4th September 1797), headed by 
Augereau, they surrounded the palace of the Tuileries, 
meeting with no resistance from the Legislative Guard. 
The whole affair was over in a few minutes. The 
minorities soon after met, and proscribed the majorities, 
members of which fled for safety in ail directions. 
Sixty-three were banished, and all else who had the evil 
fortune to be caught were imprisoned. To the list of 
the proscribed, were added the proprietors, editors, and 
publishers of forty-two journals, amounting to nearly 
400 persons. The Councils being now fortified by a 
fresh accession of deputies of Jacobin principles, pro- 
ceeded to enact measures resembling those of 1792 and 
1793. The public exercise of the Christian religion was 
again prohibited, and the laws against emigrants and 
priests, which had been relaxed, were re-enacted in all 
their rigour. In a word, under the guise of extreme 
democracy, and with proclamations of liberty and equality, 
the government was nothing else than an intolerant 
despotism. It was by the Directory, so revolutionised, 
that Napoleon was received on his return to Paris from 
his campaign, in December 1797. Hailing him as a 
fit agent for extending the conquests of the Republic, 
he was not the less appreciated for his skill in levying 
contributions for France, of which, to his credit, he 
appropriated nothing whatever to himself. 



1 797.] INVASION OF ROME. 219 

More troubles were reserved for the pope. The year 
1797 was marked by a continuance of the same vexa- 
tious measures. The Directory ordered the invasion 
of Rome. Berthier entered the city, 10th February 

1798, and took possession of the castle of St Angelo. 
Pius VI. was now called on to renounce his temporal 
sovereignty, and on his refusal, was seized, 20th February. 
He was carried away to Siena, and afterwards to a 
monastery at Florence ; but here the pope, though at an 
advanced age and in infirm health, was not suffered to 
rest. On the threatened advance of an Austro-Russian 
army in the following year, he was transferred to 
Grenoble, and finally to Valence on the Rhone, where, 
worn out by the rigour of confinement, he died in August 

1799, in the 826. year of his age. Rome, on being 
occupied, was revolutionised and plundered of all the 
valuable articles that could be laid hands on. While' 
Italy was suffering from these warlike operations in 
1798, Switzerland was overrun and conquered by the 
French forces, after which it was transformed into the 
Helvetian Republic, in connection with France. 

From this time, for a period of eighteen years, the 
history of France is substantially a history of Napoleon 
Bonaparte, on whom, by his military successes, were fixed 
the hopes of the nation. France, by her generals, had 
freed herself from all her formidable enemies, except 
England, which was alone saved by possessing the 
command of the sea. Even this safeguard might have 
been unavailing but for Nelson, the greatest of British 
admirals, who rose to distinction in 1797, and with his 
fleet watched over the interests of the country. Elated 
by the victories in Italy, the Directory appeared to 
form the design of invading England, and appointed 



220 FRANCE. 

Napoleon commander of the invading army. This, 
however, was merely a feint to mask the real design 
of the Directory — the invasion of Egypt, as perhaps a 
preliminary step to the conquest of British India. 

On the 19th May 1798, the expedition for Egypt, 
consisting of 30,000 soldiers and a body of savants to 
investigate the antiquities of the country, sailed from 
Toulon. In its course towards Alexandria, the French 
fleet arrived at Malta, which was at this time in pos- 
session of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, a body 
of men, half-monks half-soldiers, who had done daring 
things in the East, but were now sunk in indolence and 
effeminacy. By a pre-arrangement of bribes, the strong 
fortress of Valetta, and the whole island, were delivered 
to the French without even a show of resistance. 
Securing an immense spoil, which was despatched to 
Paris, and leaving a garrison with the tricolour flying 
from the ramparts, Napoleon continued on his way to 
Alexandria, which was reached on the 29th June. As 
France was at peace with Turkey, the invasion 
of Egypt, a Turkish dependency, was, according to 
every international law, altogether unjustifiable; but 
to the French that made no difference. Landing with 
his troops, Napoleon captured Alexandria, and issued 
an address to the inhabitants of Egypt, stating that the 
French were ' true Mussulmans/ and came to rescue the 
country from the domination of tyrants. He then 
marched on Cairo, where, coming in sight of the 
Pyramids, he directed the gaze of his troops on those 
gigantic monuments, saying to them, in a tone of 
enthusiasm : ' Remember that from the summits of those 
pyramids forty centuries contemplate your actions ! ' 

At this time, the Turkish authority in Egypt was 



1 798. ] THE FRENCH IN EG YET. 22 1 

greatly controlled by a military body called Mamelukes, 
consisting originally of slaves from the Caucasus, who, 
bred to military service, sometimes assumed a domination 
which threatened to subvert the power of the sultan. A 
host of these daring soldiers of the desert, eight thousand 
in number, armed with flashing scimitars, and forming 
the finest cavalry in the world, made a bold resistance. 
In vain, by daring charges, they attempted to destroy 
their assailants ; the French infantry, formed into squares, 
mowed them down on all sides — utterly dispersed and 
routed them. By this battle of the Pyramids, fought 
2 1 st July, Napoleon was made master of Cairo, where 
he reorganised the civil and military administration. 
While so engaged, Nelson completely destroyed the 
French fleet in Aboukir Bay, 1st August, by which the 
invading force was cut off from Europe. In this naval 
engagement, ordinarily called the Battle of the Nile, 
nine French line-of-battle ships were taken, two were 
burned, and two escaped. The victory was complete, 
and obtained for Nelson a peerage, by the title of Baron 
Nelson of the Nile. 

A month later, the sultan declared war on the 
French, and this was followed by disturbances in 
Cairo, which were only suppressed by horrible mas- 
sacres. It was evident to Napoleon that he should go 
somewhere else. Resolving to meet the Turkish forces 
assembling in Syria, he, in February 1799, crossed the 
desert at the head of ten thousand men, and stormed 
Jaffa on the 3d March, after a heroic resistance. Four 
thousand of the garrison yielded themselves prisoners, 
on condition that their lives should be spared. Finding 
it necessary to depart, and that it would be inconvenient 
to be encumbered with so large a body of captives, the 



222 FRANCE. 

whole were conducted in groups to the sand-hills on the 
sea-coast, and there slaughtered by repeated fusillades — 
an atrocity weighing heavily on the name of Napoleon. 
Thus disembarrassed, he marched northwards by the 
coast, and reached Acre on the 17 th. Here his career 
of victory was stopped. All his efforts to capture Acre 
were foiled by the garrison, assisted by Sir Sidney Smith 
with a small body of English sailors and marines. On 
the 2 1 st May, he commenced his retreat to Cairo, 
leaving the whole country on fire behind him. It was 
during his absence that Denon and other savants made 
their valuable researches among the monuments of 
Upper Egypt. 

The condition of Napoleon was now critical. The 
sultan landed an army of 18,000 men at Aboukir. 
These the French overthrew with great slaughter on the 
25 th July, but the victory did not enable them to 
restore their communications with France. Leaving his 
army behind him, under command of Kleber, Napoleon 
sailed from Alexandria, and, after narrowly escaping 
capture by the English fleet, landed at Frejus on the 
9th October. This was a species of flight, which the 
state of affairs rendered necessary. The government 
of the revolutionised Directory proved a failure, partly 
from an inherent defect of organisation, and partly 
through the corruption of members — the turpitude of 
Barras, a man of extravagant habits, being most con- 
spicuous of all. It was clear that France could not be 
reconsolidated by the fag-ends of the Revolution. The 
power and skill requisite for such a herculean work must 
be sought for elsewhere, among men who had received a 
nobler discipline than could be obtained in the political 
intrigues of Paris. 



1 799.] REVOLUTION OF ilth BRUM AIRE. 223 

Such were the thoughts of the Abbe Sieyes, Talley- 
rand, and Fouche. But where, in the denuded and 
demoralised state of France, were able men to be 
obtained? Sieyes turned his eyes to the army, where 
a host of brilliant names had appeared. Communi- 
cating the scheme to Napoleon and a few others, 
a conspiracy was formed, to overthrow the Direc- 
tory by a coup d'etat, which was effected by a large 
military force, on the 18th Brumaire (9th November 
1799). This act of violence may properly be deemed 
the Third in the series of Revolutions. 

A small number of members of the dissolved bodies 
who assumed to represent the whole, and had selfish 
objects in view, promulgated the new constitution. The 
government was to consist of three Consuls, each elected 
for ten years, who, from certain electoral lists, were to 
choose a legislative body, a tribunate, and council of 
state, all the members of which were to have salaries. 
The First Consul was to be supreme; the second and 
third only his advisers. Bonaparte was named First 
Consul. He was empowered to promulgate the laws, 
appoint or dismiss ministers, ambassadors, and, with few 
exceptions, all civil, military, and naval officers. His in- 
come was fixed at 500,000 francs. He was now a species 
of king, and, 19th February 1800, took up his residence in 
the Tuileries, which had been prepared for his reception. 
He made a ceremonious entrance to this palace of the 
French monarchs, which had been a scene of dreadful 
havoc in the revolutionary tumults. A few Caps of 
Liberty had accidentally been left on the top of a cluster 
of spears. ' Take away that rubbish,' said Napoleon, on 
entering the portal amidst the shouts of the populace. 

Josephine, as Madame Bonaparte; presided^ over the 



224 FRANCE. 

consular court, for which she was eminently qualified. 
In figure and in manners she was grace personified, and 
no one excelled her in the elegance or tastefulness of 
her dress. Nor was she unacquainted with the rules 
and etiquette of a court. Her first husband, the Count 
de Beauharnais, had been a visitor at the palace of 
Versailles, and, being reckoned one of the handsomest 
men and the best dancer of his day, he had had the 
honour of dancing at a ball with Marie Antoinette. 
Communicating his knowledge to Josephine, he had 
prepared her to act the part of a queen, and to instruct 
Napoleon in usages with which his previous life had left 
him unacquainted. Detesting the Jacobins, whom he 
had helped to extinguish, he was never tired of hearing 
her traditions of the old regime, and reminiscences of 
distinguished personages who had perished during the 
revolutionary convulsion. 

The revival of a court at the Tuileries led to no 
popular commotion. The revolutionary fervour had died 
out. The people at large looked on the political change 
with indifference. Their only feeling was that, with a 
soldier at the head of the state, there was a chance, for 
a time at least, of protection from anarchical violence. 
There were, no doubt, some discontented spirits; but, 
by dexterous management/ the new order of things met 
with the support of those who might have done it some 
mischief. French politicians had begun the game of 
selling themselves to the rising power. The new form 
of government seems almost to have been invented by 
Sieves for the purpose of bribing expectants with places. 
He had prepared a lucrative post for himself as an 
ornamental head of the constitution, which Bonaparte at 
once set aside by turning it into ridicule. His rapacity 



1800.] NAPOLEON AS FIRST CONSUL. 225 

was satisfied by the gift of a fine landed estate and a 
large sum of money in ' requital for his public services.' 
As Bonaparte liberated many thousands of prisoners, 
permitted the clergy to open the churches and resume 
their public official duties, and gave encouragement to 
education, he commanded, on these grounds alone, con- 
siderable support He also permitted the return of the 
banished noblesse, and suppressed an annual fete com- 
memorative of the execution of Louis XVI. Fouche, 
who, with the change of times, had sunk his Jacobin 
proclivities, was, from his knowledge of worthless 
characters, appointed minister of police; but,, having 
little faith in his honesty, Napoleon appointed a secret 
police to watch him. 

At the commencement of the Consulate, the French 
had good reason to speak of the valour of their soldiers. 
What they had done, with imperfect means and in the 
face of a world in arms, was truly astonishing. They 
had acquired the dominion of Italy; they had taken 
possession of Switzerland; they had made the Rhine 
the boundary of France; they had been assigned the 
Austrian Netherlands, now known as Belgium ; and 
were masters of Holland. Such was the work of the 
republican armies, within the space of five or six 
years. They had likewise, as in the previous case 
of v La Vendee, suppressed formidable bodies of insur- 
gent royalists in Brittany, known by the name of 
Chouans, led by Cadoudal and Charette. Deserted 
by pusillanimous and subsidised allies, England could 
make no head against French territorial aggrandise- 
ments. She could only stand on the defensive, and 
keep the command of the sea. The French republicans 
had been frustrated in a landing in Ireland in 1796, but 

o 



226 FRANCE, 

the attempt was renewed with greater success. Buoyed 
up with hopes of succour from France, the Irish broke 
into insurrection ; but they were defeated with great loss 
at Vinegar Hill, 21st June 1798. Two months after- 
wards, a force of eleven hundred French effected a 
landing, and, with the aid of Napper Tandy, an Irish 
revolutionist, attempted to set up a provisional govern- 
ment. Another and greater French force followed, but 
before it could land, it was attacked and overcome by a 
British squadron; and the rebellion was, for the time, 
at an end. 

In 1800, the British government, being alarmed at 
the prospect of a coalition of northern naval powers 
headed by Russia, resolved on at least depriving Den- 
mark of the means of hostile operation. For this purpose, 
Admirals Parker and Nelson were sent with a fleet to 
Copenhagen, which was reached on the 2d April. The 
Danes exhibited extraordinary valour, but could not 
withstand the terrific cannonade to which they and their 
ships were exposed. At the end of four hours, a horrible 
spectacle presented itself. The Danish fleet was de- 
stroyed ; some of the ships had been blown into the air, 
and the water was covered with men struggling for life ; 
others had taken fire, and the flames shooting upwards, 
cast a fearful glare around. The English, however, also 
suffered severely. To save further destruction, Nelson 
offered terms of negotiation, which were accepted. The 
end of the expedition had been gained, though the 
proceeding on the part of England has ever been 
considered somewhat questionable. 

The peace between France and Austria was of short 
duration. When Napoleon was in Egypt, the Directory 
attacked the neutral states of Switzerland, seized upon 



i8oo.] NAPOLEON'S MARCH ACROSS THE ALPS. 227 

Turin, and deprived the pope of the limited temporal 
power left him by Napoleon. A second coalition was 
formed against France, in which Russia was included ; 
and, in consequence, Suwarrow, the famous Russian 
commander, in conjunction with the Austrians, invaded 
Italy, and wrested from the French their new conquests 
in that country. The Austrians could not tolerate the 
seizure of Switzerland, nor could they agree to certain 
unwarrantable demands concerning the German frontier; 
besides, Bernadotte, the French ambassador at Vienna, 
gave offence by hoisting the inscription, ' Liberty and 
equality,' in front of his mansion. Again there was war 
with France, a condition of things far from displeasing 
to Bonaparte, for there was a prospect of renewing the 
glories of his Italian campaigns. Making the most 
careful preparations, he quitted Paris for Geneva, where 
a force of 36,000 men had been collected. While at 
Geneva, he visited Necker at his villa of Coppet, where 
the aged financier was living in a state of moody retire- 
ment. On the 15th of May 1800, began Napoleon's cele- 
brated march across the Alps, by way of the Great St 
Bernard ; the army, with immense toil, climbed amidst 
snow and clouds till it reached the summit, whence it 
descended on Italy; and before the Austrians were 
aware, the French had entered Milan. Twelve days 
afterwards, 14th June, was fought the fiercely contested 
battle of Marengo, which compelled the Austrians to 
resign Piedmont with all its fortresses, and for the 
second time to relinquish Lombardy. Later in the year, 
hostilities were recommenced; but the Austrians, beaten 
by Moreau at the battle of Hohenlinden, 3d December 
1800, and by Napoleon in Upper Italy, were forced to 
make peace by the treaty of Lune'ville, 9th February 



228 FRANCE. 

1801. At the same time, in Southern Italy, Murat 
compelled the government of the Two Sicilies to shut 
their ports against English vessels, and Soult took 
possession of a number of fortresses and harbours. 
Intelligence of these successes caused immense rejoicing 
in Paris. 

France was now more than ever the preponderating 
power in continental Europe. But beyond that, where 
ships were concerned, Napoleon's projects had failed. 
Malta had for two years been blockaded by a British 
squadron, and was suffering the agonies of famine. 
Driven to extremity, Valetta capitulated in September 
1800; the French garrison being sent to Marseilles, 
and exchanged for English prisoners of war. By this 
important event, Malta became, and has ever since 
remained, a British possession. 

A similar disaster overtook the French forces left with 
Kleber in Egypt. They had gained a victory over the 
Mamelukes at Mount Thabor, and otherwise defended 
themselves bravely, but they were isolated in a strange 
land, cut off from their own country. Their condition 
inviting attack, Sir Ralph Abercromby was despatched 
with 27,000 troops to Egypt, and in the face of a 
storm of missiles effected a landing, 1st March 1801. 
On the 2 1 st, was fought the battle of Alexandria, in 
which the French were routed with great loss; but 
the victory was dearly bought, for the gallant Aber- 
cromby received a wound of which he died a few 
days afterwards. This was noted as the first victory 
on land gained by the British over the republican 
forces, and greatly raised the hopes of the people of 
England. Marching on Cairo, General Hutchinson, 
who succeeded Abercromby, compelled the French to 



1 800. ] NAPOLEON AS AN ADMINISTRA TOR, 229 

capitulate ; an agreement being come to that the 
whole army, including the savants with their collection 
of drawings and antiquities, should be conveyed to 
France. So ended the French occupation of Egypt. An 
English force brought from India, commanded by Sir 
David Baird, remained some time in the country. 

It is now proper to say something of the administrative 
genius of Napoleon. For military skill he had scarcely 
a parallel — his foresight, strategy, power of rapid com- 
bination, and disregard of personal exertion, being all 
remarkable. But quite as surprising was his untiring 
industry, as is attested by his voluminous printed corre- 
spondence. Temperate in his habits, he gave no example 
of profligate indulgence, or wastefulness of time in idle 
pursuits. His civil rule brought order out of chaos. 
No doubt, he did so in a despotic fashion. From the 
day he overthrew the Directory, and was established as 
First Consul, he was an autocrat Was France, however, 
fit for anything else ? Responsible government in various 
shapes had broken down. The country stood in need 
of a capacious mind to set things to rights, and it found 
what was wanted in this keen-witted Corsican, who 
addressed himself to that great object for which he 
thought he was specially sent into the world. 

The abolition of provincial Intendants in 1789, and 
the inauguration of departmental councils on a basis of 
popular election, did not in practice prove successful. 
The councils did as they liked, with little or no regard 
to the supreme government, and were degenerating into 
provincial parliaments. Napoleon applied a check to 
this dangerous state of affairs. By a law of 28th 
Pluviose, year VIII. (17th February 1800), Intendants 
were restored under the appellation of Prefects. To 



230 FRANCE. 

each department, the First Consul appointed a prefect, 
who could be dismissed at pleasure. To the districts, 
into which the departments were divided, there were 
appointed sons-prefets. The conseils generaux of the 
departments were likewise appointed by the First 
Consul ; but these councils, during the Bonapartean era, 
fell into disuse ; and the whole provincial administration 
depended on the ruling power in Paris. In this way 
was begun that centralised officialism for which France 
has ever since been noted. Through an organisation 
of telegraphs, radiating from the office of the ministry 
of the interior, orders could be communicated to the 
prefects all over France, and action speedily taken for 
any required purpose. By these means, the power of 
Napoleon was prodigiously strengthened and confirmed. 
It was also reserved for the Napoleonic rule to give 
legal sanction to a new and singularly perfect system of 
weights and measures. As early as 1790, the revolu- 
tionary government had turned its attention to this 
subject, and appointed a commission of men of science, 
who fixed on the decimal system, or reckoning by tens. 
The metre, which was to form the standard unit in 
measuring, was determined by an astronomical calcu- 
lation of the length of a quadrant of the meridian — a 
quarter of the earth's circumference from the equator 
to the pole. The metre is the ten-millionth part (i^^oo) 
of this quadrant, and is a fraction more than thirty-nine 
English inches. The standard unit of weight was the 
gramme, being the weight of a cubic centimetre of 
distilled water at o° centigrade, or 32 Fahrenheit. 
The most common measure of weight is the kilogramme, 
containing a thousand grammes, and equal to about 
2\ pounds English. Distances are usually reckoned 



1803.] CODE NAPOLEON. 231 

by kilometres, or a thousand metres. This new system 
was legalised by a decree, 2d November 1801. As 
regards money, a simple decimal reckoning also came 
into use, of which the franc is the unit; the franc is 
divided into ten decimes, and the decime into ten 
centimes. The franc is nearly equivalent to tenpence 
sterling. As a coin of convenience, the napoleon, a gold 
coin of twenty francs, was likewise introduced. 

The First Consul has more special merit in the 
matter of readjusting and codifying the laws, which, like 
everything else in the old monarchy, were in a state of 
great confusion. The whole were reorganised under the 
direction of Napoleon. The result arrived at by the 
assembly of lawyers, over whom he presided, was the 
Code Civil, Code de Procedure, Code Phial, and Code 
d' Instruction Crimi?ielle, all of which usually pass under 
the name of the Code Napoleon, which came into use 
between 1803 and 18 10, and remains a lucid embodi- 
ment of the law of France. 

Bonaparte's rise to power as First Consul led to 
considerable modification in the political and spiritual 
condition of Rome, which, in 1800, was restored to 
the pope. Pius VII., who had succeeded Pius VI., 
entered his capital in July of that year, and the French 
troops were withdrawn from the papal territory, ex- 
cepting the Legations. The cause of these changes 
was obvious. Napoleon was desirous to restore religion 
in France, on the ancient basis of a connection with 
Rome. With this view, he entered into negotiations 
with the pope, which were agreed to in 1801, and the 
concordat was ratified by proclamation in 1802. Certain 
differences, however, remained to be adjusted, which 
afterwards caused some trouble. 



232 FRANCE. 

Unfortunately for himself and for the peace of Europe, 
the great man who was so serviceable in many ways 
to France, was animated by an insatiable ambition. 
Whether to bring the British government to terms by a 
threat, or for other reasons, he projected an invasion of 
England. He caused a large number of vessels to be col- 
lected at Boulogne, and encamped a body of troops on 
the heights adjoining that town, 12th July 1801. These 
preparations caused great excitement all over Great 
Britain. On the 1st August, Lord Nelson was des- 
patched with a fleet to Boulogne, to destroy the flotilla 
which had been moored in the harbour. This proved a 
difficult undertaking. The vessels were so well secured, 
that the effort to reach or damage them was unsuccess- 
ful, and Nelson was forced to retire. Further demon- 
strations of mutual hostility were soon after abandoned, 
by the signing of preliminaries of peace, 1st October 
1 80 1. The treaty of peace, embracing concessions on 
both sides, was signed at Amiens, 27th March 1802. A 
short time previously, the French senate declared that 
Napoleon should be Consul for life. 

The peace of Amiens having opened France, after it 
had been shut against the English for about nine years, 
large ,numbers visited Paris, to see the scenes which had 
been rendered historically interesting by recent events. 
Peace, however, was of short duration. Napoleon's 
policy in Italy, and his continued preparations for 
invasion, so irritated the British government, that, until 
a better understanding existed, it would not withdraw the 
forces from Egypt, nor relinquish Malta, as had been 
stipulated. The obligation was, that Malta should be 
given back to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, a 
body which had been dispersed and provided for ; but to 



1804.] MURDER OF DUKE D'ENGHIEN. 233 

guard against this difficulty, Napoleon was prepared with 
a fresh batch of knights, created out of his own adherents. 
As neither party would yield, war was declared against 
France, 18th May 1803. By an act which has always 
been considered harsh and unjustifiable, Napoleon made 
prisoners of war all the English who were at the time in 
the country. They were sent as detenus to Verdun, where, 
as prisoners on parole, they remained during the continu- 
ance of the war, a period of eleven years. On the com- 
mencement of hostilities, the British fleet scoured the 
seas, paralysing the commerce of France, while Napoleon 
threatened on a larger scale than ever to invade England, 
and assembled a large army at Boulogne. 

Early in 1804, a conspiracy was discovered, having for 
its object the assassination of the First Consul, and the 
restoration of the Bourbons. In this conspiracy, unfolded 
by the discoveries of Fouche, it appeared that Pichegru, 
Moreau, and Cadoudal, a Breton chief of the Chouans,and 
others, were concerned. Arrests were made. Pichegru 
was confined in the Temple, where, one morning, he 
was found dead. Moreau was banished, and took up 
his residence in America. Cadoudal was condemned 
and executed. In the course of the examinations into 
this mysterious affair, reference was made to a prince, 
thirty-six years of age, who had taken some part in the 
conspiracy. Suspicion lighted on the Duke d'Enghien, 
a descendant of the Great Conde, who was living at 
Ettenheim, in the state of Baden, about twelve miles 
from Strasburg. Without a shred of evidence to 
implicate him in the conspiracy, this young man was 
seized, though in a foreign territory, by order of 
Napoleon, was brought to Paris, hurriedly tried during 
the night by a military commission in the fortress of 



234 FRANCE. 

Vincennes, condemned to death, and immediately 
shot, 20th March. This murder remains a foul 
blot on the memory of Napoleon, who afterwards, 
on account of it, had to endure the pangs of remorse — 
for it was clearly demonstrated to him that his inform- 
ants had been mistaken in their surmises as to the 
identity of the Duke d'Enghien with the person con- 
cerned in the conspiracy. 

Now comes a Fourth Revolution. The Consulate, 
like all the governments that preceded it, had not 
realised expectations. The First Consul thought 
he might assume the title of Emperor. France, he 
alleged, wanted an empire as a symbol of permanent 
security. An appeal was made by a plebiscite to the 
nation. Upwards of 3,500,000 votes were given for the 
proposed change ; only 3000 or 4000 voting against it 
On the 1 8th May 1804, Napoleon assumed the title of 
Emperor of the French, at St Cloud. To give his 
coronation an imposing religious character, Napoleon 
invited Pius VII. to assist at the ceremonial, and the 
pope with some hesitation assented. Notre Dame being 
restored as well as possible after its calamities, and 
grandly decorated, was appointed for the solemnity. 
On the 2d December, in presence of the pope, 
he put the imperial crown on his own head, and after- 
wards crowned Josephine as empress. The ceremony 
concluded with the pope officiating at mass. Thus, a 
people who, in the frenzied pursuit of liberty, dethroned 
and murdered their king in 1793, now, by universal 
consent, within a space of less than twelve years, sub- 
mitted to pass under the rule of a military autocrat. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE EMPIRE — NAPOLEON I. — 1804 TO 1814. 

/^VN becoming emperor, Napoleon established his 
^-^ court on a footing of splendour and etiquette out- 
shining that of any court in Europe. His brothers and 
sisters received the title of Imperial Highnesses. The 
new order of the Legion of Honour, which had been 
instituted in 1802, received a great accession. Members 
of the old noblesse were sought out and cultivated. But, 
although titular distinction was recognised, the principle 
acted upon was that merit, not birth, was the sole pass- 
port to favour. No general was ever so gifted as 
Napoleon in selecting and advancing able lieutenants to 
further his schemes. It became a common saying that 
' every soldier carried a marshal's baton in his knapsack.' 
His court and camp blazed with commanders, the 
greater number of whom had originally belonged to a 
humble rank in life. A few instances may suffice. 

Junot entered the republican army as a volunteer; 
his ability and coolness under fire were recognised by 
Napoleon at the siege of Toulon ; he was promoted, 
rose to be a general of brigade, and was finally created 
Duke of Abrantes. — Hoche was the son of an under- 
groom in the royal stables at Versailles; through the 
kindness of his aunt, a poor woman who kept a 



236 FRANCE. 

fruit-stall, he was taught to read ; he enlisted at sixteen 
years of age, and rose to be a sergeant-major; by his 
high military talents, he obtained the command of the 
army of the Moselle, and drove the allies out of Alsace ; 
he distinguished himself in suppressing the revolt in La 
Vendee ; had the command of the army of the Sambre 
and Meuse, and effected the passage of the Rhine in 
1797, a feat commemorated by a monument on its 
banks ; finally, he became minister of war, and was a 
prodigious favourite in the salons of Paris. — Murat was 
the son of an innkeeper, and began life as a waiter at a 
restaurateur's; he entered a horse-regiment, for which 
his fine figure adapted him, rose through various grades 
to be a lieutenant-colonel; Napoleon called him his 
c right hand/ for under his orders he executed the most 
brilliant feats of arms ; his fine swordsmanship procured 
him the name of the beau sabreur ; he married Caroline, 
a sister of Bonaparte. — Bernadotte, the son of a lawyer 
at Pau, entered the army as a common soldier, and, dis- 
tinguishing himself on various occasions, rose to the 
highest military rank; ultimately, disliking Napoleon's 
schemes, he retired into private life, and, for his talents, 
was elected king of Sweden, when he assumed the title 
of Charles XIV. — Davout (not Davoust, as commonly 
written) was one of the few generals of Napoleon who 
had a good education ; by his firmness of character and 
dauntless courage, he rose to be a marshal and peer of 
France, with the title of Prince of Eckmuhl. — Kleber was 
the son of a garden-labourer at Strasburg, rose from being 
a private in the army to be a general of division, and 
greatly distinguished himself in Egypt; unfortunately, 
he was assassinated by a fanatic at Cairo, June 1800. — 
Moreau served under Dumourier, and displayed such 



1804.] EMINENT FRENCH GENERALS. 237 

military talent that he was made general of division ; he 
succeeded Pichegru, won the battle of Hohenlinden, 
and at all times shewed a noble disinterestedness of 
character : incurring the suspicion of Napoleon, he was, 
as has been mentioned, lost to the imperial rule. — 
Desaix began as a lieutenant of Moreau ; in Egypt he 
was noted for his achievements ; incredibly fertile in re- 
sources, and possessing a power of winning and retaining 
the people whom he conquered, he was compared by his 
soldiers to Bayard. — Massena, a native of Nice, was 
originally a ship-boy, entered the army as a volunteer, 
rose to high military rank, and had a chief command in 
Switzerland and Italy; he died a peer of France. — Soult 
was originally a private in a royal infantry regiment ; 
in the republican army, by his steady obedience to 
discipline and coolness in danger, he rose to be general 
of brigade, and had an important command in the 
latter years of the war. — Augereau, one of the most 
brilliant and intrepid of Napoleon's band of generals, 
was the son of a tradesman; he distinguished himself 
in the Italian and Austrian campaigns, and rose to be a 
marshal and peer of France. — Lannes had a similar 
career; promoted for his ability and services, he rose 
to high rank, and was finally" created Duke of Monte- 
bello. It is unnecessary to pursue the enumeration. 

Aided by generals of this stamp, and with an army 
recruited by conscription to any desired amount, Napo- 
leon indulged in dreams of universal conquest. Minute 
as to examination of details, trusting nothing to chance, 
he secured, in a wonderful degree, the attachment of his 
soldiers, who spoke of him as the petit caporal (little 
corporal). Wheresoever he went, they would follow and 
obey him. History cannot convey a proper idea of the 



238 FRANCE. 

terror inspired in England by Bonaparte in the early 
years of the present century. There was nothing of 
which he was not supposed to be capable. In 1804, 
and part of 1805, he continued his preparations for 
invasion, throwing Great Britain into that paroxysm of 
alarm which covered the country with militia and volun- 
teers, holding themselves ready in case of attack. While 
his plans for invasion were in progress, Napoleon visited 
Italy, everywhere receiving profound homage. In the 
cathedral of Milan — that marvellous work of pinnacled 
white marble — he was, 20th May 1805, consecrated 
king of Italy, and he placed on his head the ancient 
iron crown of the Lombards. His step-son, Eugene de 
Beauharnais, was at the same time created viceroy. 
t Returning from this pageant, he again went to 
Boulogne, to superintend the equipments for invasion. 
It being of importance to deceive the English as to the 
time of making the attempt, he ordered the French fleet, 
under Admiral Villeneuve, to join the Spanish squadron 
and proceed to Martinique. When they arrived, orders 
were sent for them to return to the Channel. Mean- 
while, Nelson followed them across the Atlantic, and 
finding them gone, suspected the meaning of the 
manoeuvre, and sending intelligence by quick sailing- 
vessels to England, immediately hurried back. Ville- 
neuve finding himself intercepted, gave up the attempt 
to enter the Channel (August 1805). The wrath of 
Napoleon was unbounded. Without a naval escort, 
he did not dare to cross with his armament. To Nelson 
belongs the honour of having baffled his scheme of 
invasion. 

Now was witnessed the vastness of Napoleon's genius. 
Without appearing to abandon the idea of an invasion, 



1805.] SURRENDER A T ULM. 239 

he proceeded to Paris, where, among other acts, he 
abolished the fantastical republican calendar, and 
ordained that France should return to that which is 
common to the civilised world, on the 1st January 
1806. Making all due preparations, he quitted Paris 
on the 24th September 1805 ; and with an army of 
190,000 men, hurried across France towards Austria, 
which had now joined in a coalition with Russia, 
Sweden, and England. Keeping his intended route 
secret, the different corps of his army took a circuitous 
line of march to the valley of the Danube ; and, after 
some engagements, drove a large body of Austrians into 
the fortress of Ulm. As all the points of communica- 
tion had been seized, and there appeared no hope of 
succour, General Mack, the Austrian commander, saw 
no alternative but that of capitulating, which he accord- 
ingly did on the « 20th October. In the previous 
encounters 30,000 Austrians had been killed or captured; 
and now other 30,000 surrendered themselves to the 
conqueror, sorrowfully laying down their arms as they 
denied past him — an incident pictured by artists, and 
which has only been outdone in recent military events. 

The consummate skill with which Napoleon stole to 
the banks of the Danube, and captured 30,000 Austrians 
at Ulm, while by the world generally he was believed 
to be occupying himself on the heights of Boulogne, 
immensely raised his character as a strategist ; though 
the wonder of such a feat may be lessened by the con- 
sideration that at that period intercommunication was 
slow; weeks being required for the transmission of 
intelligence which can now be conveyed in at most a 
few hours. This fact was strikingly illustrated in 
connection with an event which took place next day 



240 FRANCE. 

after the capitulation of Ulm, in a different scene of 
operations. 

The British government having resolved to destroy, 
if possible, the combined fleets of France and Spain, 
lying in the harbour of Cadiz, sent Nelson on this 
important service, with Collingwood as his second in 
command. Keeping the most of his fleet out of sight, 
Nelson was gratified to learn that the enemy had stood 
out to sea, at a point near Cape Trafalgar. He then, 
2 1 st October 1805, collected his ships, and prepared for 
an attack on the enemy, which meanwhile had drawn up 
in the form of two semicircular lines, consisting of thirty- 
three line-of-battle ships and seven frigates; the front 
line commanded by the French admiral, Villeneuve. 
The British force numbered twenty-seven sail of the line 
and four frigates. The plan of attack was ingenious. It 
was, to bear down in two perpendicular columns, pierce 
through the two semicircles, then turn round, and each 
ship select its antagonist. As the manoeuvre had to 
be effected by sailing-vessels depending on the wind, the 
exploit was perilous. It proved, however, successful. 
Nelson was in the Victory, Collingwood was in the Royal 
Sovereign. 

When all was prepared, Nelson, in his cabin, spent a 
'few moments in uttering and writing a prayer, in which 
he trusted that 'God would grant a victory to his 
country for the benefit of Europe, that no misconduct 
on his part might tarnish it, and that humanity after 
victory might be the predominant feature in the British 
fleet V Just before going into action, he ordered to be 
hoisted at the mast-head of the Victory the ever-memor- 
able signal : ' England expects every man to do his 
duty.' Nelson leading one column, and Collingwood 



1805.] BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, 241 

the other, now bore down ; a furious contest raged, and 
the enemy's lines were broken. In the heat of the 
battle, Nelson received a shot from a French marksman. 
The bullet, passing through the shoulder, lodged in the 
back-bone, and he was carried below, saying to Hardy, 
his captain : i They have done for me at last.' He died 
with composure at half-past four in the afternoon, the 
last pleasing intelligence conveyed to him being that the 
English had been completely victorious. Twenty ships 
of the line had struck, including that with Villeneuve; 
several were sunk, and the remainder escaped. More 
than a week elapsed before the intelligence of the 
battle of Trafalgar reached England. Immense joy was 
caused at a deliverance from any further fears of inva- 
sion, but a joy chastened with the grievous loss which 
the nation had sustained by the death of Nelson. The 
remains of this, the greatest of British naval heroes, were 
honoured with a public funeral, and deposited under the 
dome of St Paul's. 

The victory of Trafalgar did not in any degree restrain 
Napoleon in his career of conquest. After the capitula- 
tion of Ulm, he marched on without opposition to 
Vienna, of which he took possession, nth November. 
The Austrian forces, under the Emperor Francis, joined 
by a Russian army, headed by the Emperor Alexander, 
had retreated to Moravia. Napoleon, quitting Vienna, 
fixed his headquarters at Briinn, towards which the 
joint forces marched in five columns to give him battle. 
The movements of the allies were ill conducted, and the 
French tactics were misunderstood. The engagement 
which ensued, fought on the 2d December, and called 
the battle of Austerlitz, from the name of a small town 
in the neighbourhood, was most decisive. The lines of 

p 



242 FRANCE. 

the allies were broken and routed ; whole divisions laid 
down their arms, others were cut in pieces ; 2000 men 
tried to escape by fleeing across a frozen lake, and the 
whole sunk with a wild cry of despair. Scarcely ever 
was there so horrible a scene. The allies lost 30,000 in 
killed, wounded, and prisoners, and abandoned 150 
pieces of cannon. The Austrian and Russian emperors 
escaped in the darkness and confusion. Next day, 
the Emperor Francis had an interview with Napoleon ; 
and an armistice being agreed on, it was followed 
by the treaty of Presburg, on the 26th December, 
by which Austria ceded all her Italian and Adriatic 
provinces. Other important changes were effected 
by it; one was the dissolution of the old German 
empire, dating from Charlemagne, and the other an act 
dissolving the connection of sixteen princes with Ger- 
many, and forming them into a union called the Con- 
federation of the Rhine, in alliance with France. 

These stupendous successes were a severe blow to Mr 
Pitt, whose health had been for some time failing. He 
died 23d January 1806. The peculiar look which he wore 
during his last days was pathetically termed by Wilber- 
force ' the Austerlitz look.' His expiring words, uttered 
under an apprehension of coming disaster, were : ' Alas ! 
my country T Had he lived a little longer, he would 
have had additional cause for despondency. Shortly 
after the battle of Austerlitz, a French army entered the 
Neapolitan territory; and having expelled the govern- 
ment of the Two Sicilies, a new kingdom was created, 
the throne of which was assigned to Joseph Bonaparte 
(April 4, 1806). Napoleon's return to Paris was a con- 
tinued journey under triumphal arches. The Parisians 
received him with the highest honour and consideration; 



l8o6.] BATTLE OF MAID A. 243 

they melted the bronze cannon taken in his battles, and 
constructed of them the Column in the Place Vendome, 
resembling, in its spiral commemorative figures, the 
famed Column of Trajan at Rome. Various magnificent 
buildings were erected. The Rue Rivoli and other new 
streets were begun about the same period, calculated to 
improve the appearance of the capital. 

As if conscious that a power depending on himself 
personally was to a certain extent precarious, Napoleon 
began from this time a process of family aggrandise- 
ment. The first prominent example of this policy was 
that of creating his brother Joseph king of the Two 
Sicilies; and the next was that of making another brother, 
Louis, king of Holland (June 5, 1806). By means such 
as this, he expected to surround France with states 
dependent on the existence of his own supremacy. 
The proceedings, as regards the Neapolitan invasion, 
had been watched by a British force at Palermo, com- 
manded by Sir John Stuart, who resolved to attack the 
French in Calabria. Landing, accordingly, on the 
mainland, he had an encounter with a body of French 
under Regnier, and he was so fortunate as to gain a 
victory at Maida, 6th July. While this defeat had no 
perceptible effect on the French, it helped to raise the 
spirits of the English, and led to increased vigour in 
prosecuting the w T ar. There was fresh cause for exulta- 
tion when intelligence arrived that the Cape of Good 
Hope, a Dutch settlement, had been captured and 
added to the British crown (January 1806). 

From the beginning of the war, the conduct of 
Frederick- William, king of Prussia, had been wavering 
and uncertain, and gave satisfaction to neither party. 
Latterly, by being promised a gift of Hanover, he 



244 FRANCE. 

assented to an alliance with France, a circumstance 
which led to the British ambassador being withdrawn 
from Berlin, and the blockading of the Prussian ports. 
The king of Prussia soon had cause to rue his sub- 
serviency. The French unceremoniously took posses- 
sion of various Prussian provinces, and levied enormous 
contributions at pleasure. Great was the indignation 
expressed at these acts of oppression. A crisis having 
arrived, war was declared against France, and the queen 
of Prussia, one of the most high-spirited women of her 
time, excited the people to resistance by her heroic 
ardour. It was a hazardous trial of strength — Prussia 
with deficient preparations and the imperfect general- 
ship of the Duke of Brunswick, against France with her 
well-equipped army, and her generals highly trained 
and experienced in field combinations, guided by the 
great Napoleon in person. 

The contest, out of which were to spring the most 
mighty results, began 27 th September 1806. It com- 
menced by an attempt of the Prussians to get between 
the French and the Rhine, so, as it were, to hem them 
in by a sweeping strategic manoeuvre. In this they 
so completely failed, that they were themselves cut off 
from their magazines and base of operations, while the 
French, if defeated, had a means of retreat. An equally 
fatal error was committed in mistaking the plans of 
the enemy, and not being sufficiently vigilant. The 
Prussians divided themselves into two armies — one 
under Prince Hohenlohe, stationed near Jena; and 
the other, with the king of Prussia, commanded by the 
Duke of Brunswick, at Auerstadt. Bonaparte took the 
first in hand, and the way it was done shewed his 
indefatigable energy. In stealing on the position of the 



1806.] BATTLE OF JENA. 245 

Prussians, he had to ascend the rugged heights of the 
Landgrafenberg. To permit the passage of his forces, 
a road had to be cut, rocks blasted, and other difficul- 
ties overcome. These operations he superintended per- 
sonally ; sometimes helping with his own hands to drag 
the cannon up the steepest parts of the ascent Getting 
to the top of the heights, the French, early next 
morning, when the mist concealed their movements, 
burst down like a torrent on the lines of the Prussians, 
who were unprepared for the suddenness of the attack. 
Bravely fighting, they were overpowered by the battalions 
of Soult, Lannes, and Augereau; and, finally, were 
routed by the cavalry of Murat It was a frightful 
scene of slaughter. The battle of Jena added another 
to the list of Napoleon's victories. 

The detached army at Auerstadt, with the king of 
Prussia and Duke of Brunswick at its head, was over- 
come in a manner similarly sudden and unforeseen. 
The duke was mortally wounded. Prince William of 
Prussia made a heroic but unavailing resistance. While 
the battle raged, crowds of fugitives made their appear- 
ance from the field of Jena ; there was a universal con- 
sternation. The Prussians were routed; the king nar- 
rowly escaping from being made prisoner. In the two 
battles of Jena and Auerstadt, fought on the 14th Octo- 
ber 1806, the Prussians lost twenty thousand men in 
killed and wounded, two hundred pieces of cannon, 
and 346 stand of colours. The fragments of the army 
scattered themselves over the country without leaders, 
some taking refuge in towns which were forced to sur- 
render. Vast numbers were allowed to enter Magdeburg, 
which was forced to capitulate. And an army, under 
General Bliicher, being driven to the Danish frontier, was 



246 FRANCE. 

compelled to lay down their arms. This extraordinary 
conquest of Prussia was effected in a few weeks. On 
the 25th October, Napoleon visited Potsdam, and rifled 
the tomb of Frederick the Great ; and next day he made 
a triumphal entry into Berlin. Another act of national 
humiliation consisted in causing the Prussian officers 
whp had surrendered themselves prisoners, to be marched 
through Berlin towards their place of confinement. 

In his general treatment of the nation, Napoleon 
shewed not the slightest magnanimity. Speaking of the 
Prussian noblesse, he said, that ' he would render them 
so poor that they should be obliged to beg their bread.' 
From the Prussian and Saxon states, he levied a war 
contribution of ^6,300,000 ; besides which, requisitions 
on towns, and the plunder of individuals, went on with- 
out mercy. Such was the impoverishment of the 
national treasury, that, to make up the required con- 
tributions, families gave up articles of value, and ladies 
parted with their gold rings, substituting for them rings 
of Berlin iron, which metal from this time obtained a 
historic importance in the country. Advancing towards 
Russia, the French encountered a force at Pultusk ; after 
which, on the 1st January 1807, Napoleon established 
himself at Warsaw. A winter campaign ensued, in 
which the French suffered considerable hardship. On 
the 8th February, they suffered a check at the battle of 
Eylau. Fighting in various quarters continued until the 
summer, when by the successes of Napoleon at the battle 
of Friedland, 14th June, Konigsberg fell into the hands 
of the French, and the Emperor Alexander was disposed 
to terms of accommodation. Negotiations for a treaty 
of peace took place, 25th June, on a raft in the river 
Niemen ; and there, Bonaparte, attended by Murat and 



1807.] TREATY OF TILSIT. 247 

other generals, met Alexander and his brother Constan- 
tine in the presence of both armies. The nei iring 
town of Tilsit, being at the same time declared u Ltral, 
became the scene of entertainments and intarchai. f 
courtesies. 

The treaty of Tilsit is memorable for the huinilia 
attempts made by the unfortunate queen of Prussia to 
move the stern purpose of Napoleon. At an interv 
she deplored the folly of Prussia in miscalculating ier 
power, when she ventured to enter the lists with sua. 
a hero. When the emperor presented a beautiful rose 
to her, she was inclined to refuse it, but took it with 
a smile, saying she would like also Magdeburg. The 
reply was : ' I must observe to your majesty, that it is 
I who give, and you only who must receive.' The treaty 
— or, more properly, two treaties — which effected peace 
between France on the one side, and Prussia and Russia 
on the other, provided for a variety of readjustments of 
territory. Prussia ceded certain provinces ; a new king- 
dom was created, called the kingdom of Westphalia, of 
which Jerome Bonaparte was afterwards appointed king; 
and on the countries which had been the seat of war, 
between the Rhine and the Niemen, contributions were 
imposed to the extent of twenty-four millions sterling. 
This, with previous exactions and other losses, along 
with diminished territory, produced in Prussia that bitter 
sense of wrong which France has latterly had equally 
bitter cause to regret. By limiting the armed force of 
Prussia to an insignificant extent, Napoleon expected 
that the country would remain a poor> second or third 
rate power. As we shall afterwards see, precisely the 
reverse dfceurred. 

According to French notions, Napoleon's campaign in 



248 FRANCE. 

Prussia, ending in the peace of Tilsit, was altogether 
glorious. In a German point of view, the affair, from 
beginning to end, was the march of an unprincipled 
band of robbers. Napoleon, certainly, had made a - 
wrongful aggression on Prussia; and his whole acts 
were marked by gross selfishness and injustice. Unfor- 
tunately, the sympathy due to the king of Prussia in 
his great sufferings is somewhat lessened by the fact 
of his previously having taken possession of Hanover 
while in amity with George III. ; indeed, it may be 
said that a hankering desire to absorb Hanover was 
the cause of all the troubles in which the Prussians 
were involved. As regards Bonaparte, he had for his 
aims his own exaltation, based on the ruin of England ; 
as a step to which it was necessary, as he thought, 
to destroy British maritime commerce, by obtaining a 
control over all continental ports. 

Bonaparte's first operation against the commerce of 
Britain was the shutting of Neapolitan ports against 
English merchant vessels ; but the Continental System, 
as his restrictive plan was called, was developed by his 
Berlin Decrees, 21st November 1806. By these famous 
Decrees, the British Islands were placed in a state of 
blockade ; every species of commerce and communica- 
tion with them was prohibited ; all articles whatsoever 
belonging to British subjects were to be seized; com- 
merce of every kind was proscribed ; no vessel, coming 
from England or any of her colonies, was to be received 
into any harbour ; and there were other decrees of an 
extremely harsh character. The British government 
retaliated by Orders in Council, to prevent trading with 
the Continent by neutral vessels. In reply, Napoleon 
issued his Milan Decree, 17th December 1807, by which 



1807.] ORDERS IN COUNCIL. 249 

every vessel, no matter of what nation, carrying goods 
from any British port, might be made lawful prize. It 
is now considered that the Orders in Council were a 
blunder, for they only aggravated a national injury. 
Napoleon's blockade of British ports was practically 
valueless, because he had no ships by which it could 
be enforced ; while such was the amount of contraband 
trade that sprung up between the ports of Great Britain 
and those of the Continent, that the Decrees only caused 
inconvenience, and an increased cost of merchandise 
to cover risk. 

It was the exceeding misfortune of Denmark to be, 
for the second time, a victim of the apprehensions of 
Great Britain. On the ground that the Danish power 
would be inevitably pressed into the service of France, 
it was resolved to seize the whole of its fleet ; for which 
purpose a British force bombarded Copenhagen, 2d 
September 1807, and, forcing it to capitulate, the fleet 
was delivered up, consisting of eighteen ships of the 
line, fifteen frigates, six brigs, and twenty-five boats, the 
whole of which were carried off as prizes to England. 
Nothing but dire necessity could justify an act so cruel,^ 
and opposed to all moral considerations. In the same 
year, the small island of Heligoland, being captured 
from the Danes, became a convenient depot for British 
goods destined for Northern Europe, and trade was 
carried on with it in spite, and often with the connivance, 
of authorities under French domination. 

According to the secret arrangements made between 
Napoleon and the Emperor Alexander at Tilsit, the two 
were in a sense to assume the command of the whole of 
Europe, each in conformity with his own selfish purposes. 
Alexander was to be free to seize Finland and make 



250 FRANCE, 

aggressions on Turkey, in requital for which he was to 
enforce the Berlin Decrees, and to sanction the French 
conquest of Spain and Portugal. The treaties of Tilsit 
may be said to have shaped the warlike operations of 
the next seven years, and to have been the source of 
Napoleon's ruin. The imperial conqueror, however, did 
not anticipate any such result. 

He returned with his army to Paris, where he was 
received with bursts of enthusiasm. His Guard, con- 
sisting of ten thousand picked soldiers, passed under 
triumphal arches, and, marching with military music to 
the Champs-Elysees, sat down to a splendid repast, 
surrounded by an admiring multitude. Intoxicated with 
military glory, the Parisians of all ranks were willing to 
indulge Napoleon in any measure tending to strengthen 
his autocratic power. With general consent, he abolished 
the tribunate, a body partly elective, with a right of 
discussion, and put the council of state, the senate, and 
the legislative body, on the footing of being appointed 
by himself, and subject entirely to his own control 
(August 1807). At the same time, the press was put 
under a strict censorship, the freedom of the bench was 
rendered liable to invasion, and the whole of society 
placed under the surveillance of a secret police. The 
emperor also reorganised the educational system of the 
country, by instituting the University of France, which 
embraced all colleges, lyceums, academies, and schools, 
and whose officials were little else than a police of 
different grades, charged with the business of public 
nstruction, under a central authority. In short, the 
ule of France had worked back to the worst days 
>f Louis XIV. All classes — members of the old 
toblesse, Terrorists who had catered for the guillotine, 



i8o8.] SPAIN AND PORTUGAL ATTACKED. 251 

men of letters, men of science, artists — vied with each 
other in seeking place and pay under the Empire ; a fact 
which greatly strengthens the conviction, that the French 
have no proper sense of political consistency, or even of 
self-respect. To crown the imperial edifice, hereditary 
titles of nobility were re-established, nth March 1808. 

The popularity of the Empire was perhaps partly due 
to the amount of plunder which it brought to the nation 
by military conquest For a number of years, half the 
public expenditure was derived from war contributions, 
and an army of upwards of 300,000 men was supported 
by forced requisitions, into whatever country it pene- 
trated. Thus, under the Napoleonic rule, the French 
saved half the amount of taxation, and, besides, had 
the enjoyment of military glory. Vast improvements 
were also effected in Paris and the provinces. Bridges 
were erected across the Seine ; harbours were created ; 
roads were carried over the Alps and along the Corniche; 
and various rivers were opened to admit of internal 
navigation. Of course, the draughts from foreign 
countries could not last; but it is not customary in 
France to speculate on the future. Napoleon had still 
a few countries to lay waste — Portugal and Spain to 
begin with, and in due time Russia. An alleged dis- 
regard of the Berlin Decrees was the plea for hostilities. 
Junot, with a strong force, entered Portugal; and the 
royal family taking fright, embarked for Brazil, 27 th 
November 1807. Spanish fortresses were seized in 
February 1808; and in May, Napoleon obliged the royal 
family of Spain to relinquish the sovereignty in his 
favour. Joseph Bonaparte was transferred from the 
throne of Naples to that of Spain, his place at Naples 
being assigned to Murat. 



252 FRANCE, 

Soon after plunging into the Peninsular War, Napoleon 
began to apprehend that, with so many of his forces 
engaged in Spain, the German States, smarting under 
mortifications, would take the opportunity of renewing 
hostilities. With feelings of this nature, he deemed it 
prudent to draw closer his alliance with Russia; for 
which purpose he sought an interview with the Czar, 
who, for reasons of his own, was desirous to remain for 
the present in amity with France. This memorable 
interview took place at Erfurth, a town situated a few 
miles from Weimar, 27th September 1808, and was 
signalised by every appearance of cordiality, along with 
a succession of brilliant fetes. By the conference, which 
lasted above a fortnight, the two emperors mutually 
agreed on maintaining an intimate alliance, though each 
secretly, as it afterwards proved, entertained the resolu- 
tion to break the engagement at the earliest opportunity, 
and commence a deadly war against the other. 

The seizure of Spain was Napoleon's first step in a 
downward direction. Insurrections broke out in Madrid, 
and armed resistance took place in various parts of the 
country. The most strenuous of all the efforts of the 
Spaniards, unassisted by foreigners, to defend themselves 
against the French, was at Saragossa, the capital of 
Aragon. Calling on Palafox, a young and intrepid 
nobleman, but without any special knowledge of war, 
to head them, the inhabitants bade defiance to the 
French, under General Lefebvre. The city was invested 
in the middle of June 1808; and after a siege of two 
months, for fifteen days of which it was incessantly 
bombarded, the enemy was forced to retire. It was in 
vain that by fresh attacks a breach was made and a 
lodgment effected; every convent, every house was a 



1809.] BATTLE OF CORUNNA. 253 

separate fortress; every partition-wall was a new line 
of defence — women, as well as men, heroically fighting 
inch by inch, and driving back their opponents at the 
point of the bayonet. In the end of November, the 
French returned in greater force, and the same obstinate 
resistance was maintained till the 21st February 1809, 
when the unfortunate city was obliged to surrender. In 
the terrific strife from first to last, 54,000 Spaniards had 
perished, and only 9000 were left capable of bearing 
arms. The defence of Saragossa will ever be memorable 
for the extraordinary heroism displayed by all classes of 
its inhabitants. 

While Saragossa was enduring the horrors of a 
siege, a regular Spanish force took the field, and, 
by the battle of Baylen, 19th July 1808, compelled 
Dupont, with a French army, to render themselves 
prisoners. Such was the commencement of the Pen- 
insular War, in which the British government felt 
it to be a duty to take a part, in the hope of shatter- 
ing the power of Napoleon. In aid of the Spaniards, 
Sir John Moore was despatched with a military force, 
and he made a bold advance from Salamanca to 
attack Soult, when he learned that a much larger force 
was marching to crush him. With an army numbering 
25,000 'men, he found it necessary to retreat over a 
rugged country for a distance of 250 miles towards 
Corunna, closely followed by the enemy. It was 
impossible to embark without fighting, and Soult was in 
readiness to attack as soon as the troops should begin 
to embark. On the 16th January 1809, the French 
came on in four strong columns. A desperate engage- 
ment, known as the battle of Corunna, ensued. While 
animating the 42d Regiment in a brilliant charge in an 



254 FRANCE, 

early part of the action, Moore was struck by a cannon- 
ball on the left shoulder, and died in the moment of 
victory. The French were defeated with a loss of 2000 
men; but the English, in their embarrassment, were 
obliged to embark as they best could. Their last act 
before embarkation was to perform the funeral obsequies 
of the lamented General Moore. 

Austria had been thrice worsted by Napoleon, and 
was doomed to suffer a fourth humiliation. Anxious to 
recover its lost position, it took advantage of Napoleon's 
immersion in the Spanish war, prepared for hostilities on 
a large scale, and finally entered the field on the 8th 
April 1809. Enraged, but not astonished, Napoleon 
collected his forces, consisting of 325,000 men, divided 
into eight corps, under Lannes, Davout, Massena, and 
others, which he despatched to the valley of the Danube, 
and followed personally, as supreme commander. The 
campaign was brief and remarkable. On no occasion 
did Bonaparte ever shew such extraordinary skill in 
overcoming an enemy by strategic movements. The 
Austrians, though well commanded by the Archduke 
Charles, suffered a succession of heavy losses at 
Abensberg, Eckmuhl, and Ratisbon, 18th to 2 2d April 
1809, and were forced to leave the way open to Vienna, 
the neighbourhood of which was reached on the 10th 
May, after an ineffectual resistance. There was a 
difficulty in crossing the Danube, which led to the 
tremendous conflict at Wagram, 5 th and 6th July, in 
which the French were victorious. Bonaparte now 
entered Vienna as a conqueror, and though resistance 
was kept up for a time by a body of brave peasants, 
under Hofer, in the T negotiations of peace were 

opened. The terms ^miliating to Austria as 



i8io.] DIVORCE OF JOSEPHINE. 255 

those previously dictated to Prussia — loss of territory, 
reduction of military power, a crushing war indemnity, 
and, as a last memento, the blowing up of the walls 
of Vienna. 

Returning to Paris crowned with victory, only one 
sorrow preyed on Napoleon's mind. Josephine had 
borne him no children, and, to perpetuate his dynasty, 
he formed the scheme of divorcing her, and forming 
another alliance. Josephine had long foreboded this 
indignity, and the thought of it embittered her exist- 
ence. The day came in which the emperor intimated 
to her the change required by his ' destiny.' The blow 
was terrible, and she fell to the ground in a swoon. 
The divorce was speedily effected by a formal decree. 
Josephine, whose character was spotless, retired with a 
suitable provision into private life. As had been 
previously arranged, Bonaparte was married, on the 
10th April 1 8 10, to Marie-Louise, daughter of the 
emperor of Austria, 

Hitherto, as has been seen, Napoleon had gone on 
with scarcely a check from conquest to conquest ; and 
the notion prevailed that he was invincible. On but 
few occasions had a British land-force been able to 
oppose the French. It was only when the English 
were thoroughly roused, and committed an army with 
full powers to Sir Arthur Wellesley, that Bonaparte 
may be said to have met with his match. When General 
Wellesley, whose military genius had been displayed in 
India, was despatched with a force to the Peninsula, 
Napoleon contemptuously spoke of him as a ' sepoy/ 
and his soldiers as ? leopards.' Wellesley speedily 
shewed, by several strategic movements, that he was a 
foe not to be contemned. His passage of the Douro, 



256 FRANCE. 

in face of a formidable enemy, followed up by his 
victory at Talavera, 27th and 28th July 1809, procured 
him the thanks of parliament, and he was created a 
peer (4th September) by the title of Baron Douro 
and Viscount Wellington, with a pension of two thou- 
sand pounds. Unable to encounter superior numbers, 
Wellington, on the 30th September 18 10, took refuge 
within the famous lines of Torres Vedras, near Lisbon. 
By means of these intrenchments, which he had 
prepared with incomparable judgment and foresight, 
he compelled Massena to retreat with heavy loss ; he 
was also enabled to protect Portugal, whence, the 
following year, he issued on that career of slow and 
hard-won victory which ended in the expulsion of the 
French from the Peninsula. Great as this war was, and 
still is, considered in England, Napoleon appears to 
have treated it as a thing of inferior moment. Absorbed 
in the fancy of crushing England by means of the Berlin 
Decrees, he, in 18 10, dispossessed his brother Louis 
of the kingdom of Holland, on account of his alleged 
laxity in carrying out the continental system, and 
added the country to the French Empire. About the 
same period, the French experienced fresh losses of 
colonial possessions. The British- captured Cayenne 
and Martinique in 1809, Guadeloupe and Mauritius in 
1810, and Java in 181 1. 

Throughout 181 1, Napoleon was deeply engaged in 
schemes of a most oppressive nature. Pius VII., who 
had assisted at his coronation, was poorly requited 
for that act of complaisance. His dominions had been 
seized and added to the kingdom of Italy in 1809 ; and 
because he protested against this act of aggression, he 
was now taken captive, and, like his predecessor, removed 



i8ii.] PREPARATIONS FOR INVADING RUSSIA. 257 

first to Florence, and then to Grenoble, where he and ! 
his attendants were put on a miserable allowance of 
two shillings a day ! Ultimately, in 181 2, the pope was 
transferred under restraint to Fontainebleau. Domin- 
eered over, Lucien Bonaparte sought a refuge in England, 
where he occupied himself with literary pursuits. Joseph 
Bonaparte, who had been placed on the throne of Spain, 
was treated with such contumely, that he wished to 
resign. The state prisons of France were crowded by 
victims who had been seized by arrests as arbitrary and 
secret as the lettres de cachet of the old monarchy. 
Proceedings so unjustifiable incurred no public remon- 
strance. Napoleon continued to be the object of 
general adulation ; and when the Empress Marie-Louise 
gave birth to a son, 20th March 181 1, extraordinary 
rejoicings signalised the happy event. 

On the plea that the Continental System was not 
properly carried out, Napoleon, in 181 1, seized the free 
towns of Hamburg, Bremen, and Liibeck, the duchy of 
Oldenburg, and other small states in that quarter. The 
Emperor Alexander resented so deeply the robbery of 
his brother-in-law, the Duke of Oldenburg, that he 
resolved to? disregard the continental blockade against 
British manufactures; and the steps he took vastly 
incensed Napoleon. As the ruin of England was his 
paramount idea, he now felt there was only one course 
open for him to pursue, which was to make preparations 
for the invasion of Russia. When such intentions 
became known, his friends were filled with consterna- 
tion. Dissuasions of counsellors were vain. He spoke 
of his •'destiny' — a favourite Napoleonic phrase which 
was made to cover every ambitious delusion. ' His 
destiny,' he said, 'was not yet accomplished; he had 

Q 



258 FRANCE. 

to make one nation of all the European states, and Paris 
must be the capital of the world!* Accordingly, he 
rushed headlong on his fate. 

Space is not afforded us for going into a narrative 
of the disastrous Russian campaign, of which detailed 
accounts are given by Labaume and Segur. Only a few 
facts can be offered. To reach Moscow, the French 
army required to march eighteen hundred miles through 
countries where there was a difficulty in procuring and 
transporting provisions. Large rivers flowed at right 
angles with the line of march. The Rhine, the Elbe, 
the Oder, and the Vistula could be crossed by bridges ; 
but the Niemen, the Beresina, the Dnieper, and some 
others, would require to be forded by men, horses, and 
wagons, and probably under the fire of an ever-vigilant 
and indignant enemy. Altogether, the enterprise was 
gigantic and hazardous. There had been nothing like 
it in modern history. Gathering together that part of 
the army which France was to furnish, it was despatched 
in an easterly direction into Germany, where it was to 
unite with the levies drawn from Italy, Austria, Prussia, 
Saxony, Bavaria, Poland, and the other countries over 
which Napoleon exerted a control. From different 
directions, this immense force, under able generals, drew 
towards a central point on the Oder, whence all were to 
combine in a united attack on the Russian frontier. 

Napoleon set out from Paris on the 9th May 181 2, to 
superintend the war in person. His army consisted of 
several divisions, which generally moved at one or two 
days' distance from each other, on different points. On 
the extreme right were 34,000 Austrians, commanded 
by Prince Schwarzenberg ; on the left was Jerome 
Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, at the head of 75,200 



1812.] RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 259 

Westphalians, Saxons, and Poles ; by the side of these 
was Eugene de Beauharnais (viceroy of Italy, and 
step-son of Napoleon), with 75,000 Bavarians, Italians, 
and French; next, the Emperor, with 220,000 men, com- 
manded by Murat, king of Naples, and Marshals Davout, 
Oudinot, and Ney ; and, finally, in front of Tilsit, was 
Marshal Macdonald, with 32,500 Prussians, Bavarians, 
and Poles. These, with some others not enumerated, 
amounted to 480,000 men actually present; besides which, 
many thousands were collected and kept in reserve. Of 
this large force, 400,000 were infantry, or soldiers on 
foot, and 80,000 cavalry. Along with this enormous 
force, there were thousands of wagons carrying pro- 
visions, thousands laden with gunpowder, shot, and shells, 
and thousands designed to accommodate the sick and 
wounded. The artillery consisted of 1372 pieces of 
cannon. For drawing the wagons of various kinds, and 
the cannon, about 100,000 horses were employed; and 
to supply food for these poor animals, thus brought into 
a service of danger and fatigue, independently of those 
used by the 80,000 cavalry, a most extensive system of 
foraging was required. 

To encounter this enormous host, Alexander, with 
an army of 300,000 men, presented at first a passive 
resistance. Bands of Cossacks — a wild irregular cav- 
alry from the southern deserts of Russia — hovered over 
the line of march to cut off stragglers and foraging 
parties ; towns and villages were laid waste, and crops 
were destroyed. The French, advancing through a 
desert, and with a loss of a third of their number 
from famine, fatigue, and slaughter, reached, on 18th 
August, the fortified city of Smolensk, which, when 
captured, after a desperate engagement, was found 



-200 FRANCE. 

only a heap of smoking ruins. Dismayed and per- 
plexed, Napoleon continued the march to Moscow. On 
the 7th September was fought the battle of Borodino, 
when 12,000 French were killed, and 38,000 wounded. 
The route was now open to Moscow, which the French 
reached on the 14th September. To the extreme surprise 
and mortification of Napoleon, no deputation arrived to 
sue for terms of surrender. The city was deserted by 
all but a few resident French, and numerous bands of 
vagabonds let loose from the prisons. By these liberated 
criminals, houses in various quarters were set on fire, 
and soon the whole of this ancient capital of Russia was 
in a state of conflagration. 

The burning of Moscow was the most extraordinary 
event in the great French war. Napoleon took up his 
quarters in the palace of the Kremlin, but that also 
was set on fire, , and with difficulty saved from destruc- 
tion. The situation of the whole invading force was 
most critical. They could neither stay nor advance. 
Napoleon sent repeated messages to Alexander propos- 
ing terms of accommodation, but they were disregarded. 
The pillage of the ruined city furnished a variety of 
luxuries, but there was a growing scarcity of provisions ; 
horses, dogs, and cats formed the principal articles of 
food. Entirely discomfited, Napoleon, after, by a need- 
less act of vengeance, blowing up the remains of the 
Kremlin, retreated from Moscow on the 18th October 
— his army a disorganised mass, contending with cold 
and hunger, and every day expecting to encounter the 
horrors of winter. On the 6th of November, the snow 
began to fall, and the march was amidst a scene of 
frightful desolation. Men and horses sank in snow-pits, 
and dropped by the way-side to die. Hovering in the 



1812.] RETREA T FROM MOSCOW. 261 

distance were the Cossacks, who seized every oppor- 
tunity to impede and destroy. Overhead were flights 
of vultures. 

Immense losses by drowning and slaughter were 
suffered in crossing the Beresina. The personal safety 
of the emperor was now the chief object of solicitude. 
The surviving officers formed themselves into a sacred 
squadron for his protection, in the midst of which he 
walked laboriously forward, staff in hand, and clad in a 
large cloak lined with fur. At Smorgoni, on the 5th 
December, he left the army, to which he could no longer 
be of any benefit, and assigned the command to Murat. 
Command, however, there was none. Left by the 
emperor, the army lost all sense of discipline. Generals, 
inferior officers, and common soldiers were all seized 
with the instinct of self-preservation, and refused to 
obey orders. What little remains there were of generous 
or soldierly feeling in the army, were now entirely lost : 
hunger, cold, and despair had reduced the heroes of the 
Grand Army to a horde of savages. Out of the whole 
army, only about 25,000 reached Russian Poland, and 
finally, only a mere handful arrived in France. Travel- 
ling by sledges, Napoleon reached Warsaw ; and he got 
to Paris on the 18th December — a miserable fugitive. 

The failure of the Russian campaign caused some 
consternation in France, but led to no want of con- 
fidence in Napoleon. To maintain his sway, fresh 
levies of conscripts were cheerfully granted; and the 
army, notwithstanding losses in Russia and Spain, 
amounted, early in 1813, t0 800,000 infantry, 100,000 
cavalry, and 100,000 artillerymen and engineers — in all, 
one million of men. The Russian disaster was hailed 
with shouts of exultation all over Germany and the 



262 FRANCE. 

north of Europe ; and forthwith a coalition was formed 
for deliverance from French domination. Taking the 
field with his accustomed ardour, Napoleon was for 
some months successful in winning battles — at Liitzen, 
2d May 1813; Bautzen, 21st May; and Dresden, 24th 
to 27th August: but the resolute temper of the allies, 
who knew that he was playing his last card, made these 
victories almost fruitless. They were convinced that 
one grand defeat would neutralise all his triumphs. 
This was inflicted, after several minor defeats, at Leipsic 
— the great ' Battle of Nations/ as it has been called — 
1 6th to 19th October 18 13. In this memorable battle, 
the victory of the allies was complete. Napoleon com- 
menced his retreat, followed by the allies. When he 
recrossed the Rhine, he had only about 70,000 men left 
out of 350,000, with whom he began the contest. All 
the French garrisons in the Prussian towns were com- 
pelled to surrender. For these successes of right over 
might, there were great rejoicings in England, which 
had additional cause for exultation, for Wellington was 
rapidly driving Soult, with a French army, out of Spain. 
Napoleon, however, did not despair. With a mind 
rising to the occasion, he raised a fresh conscription, 
said to be of 300,000 men; but such had been the 
drainage of the male population, that the conscripts were 
chiefly youths who were scarcely able to bear arms or 
encounter the fatigues and dangers of a campaign. 
With such a force as was at his disposal, he proceeded 
in the attempt to drive the allies out of France. The 
skill and energy which he displayed were extraordinary, 
but unavailing. On the 30th March 18 14, the allied 
Russian and German forces captured Paris after a severe 
engagement; and next day the Emperor Alexander and 



1814-] ABDICATION OF NAPOLEON. 263 

the king of Prussia entered the city amid the shouts 
of the populace. On the 2d April, the senate, by a 
decree, dethroned Napoleon, and relieved the army 
and the people from their oaths of allegiance. The 
emperor abdicated on the 4th at Fontainebleau. The 
French, with their usual fickleness, appeared to be 
delighted to get rid of the Bonapartean dynasty, which 
for the last ten years they had abjectly worshipped. 
Napoleon was allowed by the allied powers to retain the 
title of emperor, with the sovereignty of the island of 
Elba, and an income of 6,000,000 francs, to be paid by 
the French government. A British ship conveyed him 
to Elba, where he arrived on the 4th May. If the allied 
powers had permitted, Josephine would have rejoined 
him after his fall. She died shortly afterwards, 29th 
May 1 8 14. Marie-Louise had previously returned to 
Vienna, taking her son with her; and from this time 
they dropped out of public notice. 

It only remains to be mentioned that, meanwhile, 
Wellington had been carrying on a very trying but 
successful campaign in the Peninsula. On the night 
of 19th January 181 2, he carried the fortress of Ciudad 
Rodrigo by storm ; for which act he again received the 
thanks of parliament, with a further pension of ^2000 
a year, and was advanced to be Earl of Wellington. 
He carried Badajos also by storm, after a frightful 
carnage, on the 6th March; and on the 2 2d July, he 
gained the battle of Salamanca, one of his greatest 
military triumphs, for which he was invested with the 
title of Marquis. Next year, 1813, he gained the battle 
of Vitoria, on the 21st June, by which signal victory 
the power of the French in Spain was greatly broken. 
On the 25 th July, he carried San Sebastian by assault. 



264 FRANCE. 

Following up these successes, Wellington drove the 
French out of Spain, 27 th February 1814, and pursued 
them to Toulouse, where he consummated his brilliant 
victories over Soult. The allied Russian and German 
armies having entered Paris, and Napoleon having 
signed his abdication a few days before, this last battle 
would not have been fought, but for the non-arrival 
of intelligence regarding the momentous events at Paris. 
For his important services, Wellington was raised to a 
dukedom, and received an additional grant of ^400,000, 
with, for the thirteenth time, the thanks of parliament. 

The treaty of peace, signed at Paris in 18 14, was 
followed in December the same year by the treaty of 
Ghent, which secured peace between Great Britain and 
the United States, after an unhappy war of two years 
between these two countries concerning the right of 
search. Thus in 18 14, the people of England had 
cause for rejoicing; they were, at length, after a long 
and complicated contest, able to devote themselves to 
the arts of peace. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS — LOUIS XVIII. AND 
CHARLES X. — 1814 TO 1830. 

"ll THEN the allies took possession of Paris, they 
* v had formed no plan respecting the government 
which should succeed the rule of Napoleon. The 
Emperor Alexander, who took the principal command 
of the army of occupation, magnanimously allowed the 
French people to make their own selection. There 
was a general current of feeling for a restoration of 
the Bourbon dynasty ; and Talleyrand, with his accus- 
tomed shrewdness, gave matters a turn in that direction. 
The senate, by what may justly be termed a Fifth Revo- 
lution, decreed France to be a hereditary monarchy, 
and, in the name of the French people, called Louis- 
Stanislaus-Xavier, eldest surviving brother of Louis 
XVI., to occupy the throne. The decree embraced 
articles for securing a national legislature, freedom of. 
the press, liberty of conscience, equality of taxation, 
and other guarantees of a constitutional government. 
Charles, Count d'Artois, until the arrival of his brother, 
the king, from England, where he had been residing 
for a number of years, acted as lieutenant-general of 
the kingdom. This recall of the Bourbons met with 



FRANCE. 

_rsal approval. The white cockade of the old 
monarchy was for a time the fashionable wear. 

The newly appointed king, adopting the style of 
Louis XVI II. , entered Paris on the 3d May, amidst 
the acclamations of the people, escorted by the Old 
Guard of Napoleon, and surrounded by the marshals 
of the Empire. He first proceeded to the cathedral 
of Notre-Dame to offer a thanksgiving for his restora- 
tion ; and then repaired to the palace of the Tuileries, 
of which he took possession as the legitimate owner. 
He was accompanied by the Duchess d'Angouleme, 
daughter of Louis XVI., who was so affected when she 
entered the palace, which she had quitted under such 
terrible circumstances on the 10th August 1792, that 
she fainted and fell at the feet of her uncle. On the 
14th May, a funeral service took place in Notre-Dame 
in memory of Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, and the 
Princess Elizabeth ; the imposing solemnity being 
attended by the members of the royal family and all 
the monarchs, generals, and ministers of state in Paris. 
Some months afterwards, the remains of the royal 
martyrs were exhumed, so far as they could be identified, 
and ceremoniously transferred to St Denis. About the 
same time, from the turn which affairs had taken, Pius 
VII. was suffered to quit Fontainebleau, and resume his 
position at Rome. 

Born in 1755, Louis XVIII. was now fifty-nine years 
of age. He was a widower, and without children. 
Bulky in figure, he had no genius, not even the tact to 
conciliate the people over whom he was called to rule. 
He and his brother, the heir-apparent, had never done 
a single thing of any use to France, but very much the 
reverse; for by their conduct as emigrants they had 



1814.] RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS. 267 

intensified the revolutionary sentiment against royalty. 
The restoration of the Bourbons was perhaps unavoid- 
able in the circumstances. It was nevertheless a great 
misfortune that Louis and his brother were so ill-suited 
to their new position. Bigoted and prejudiced, they 
had learned nothing, and forgotten nothing. Content 
to be restored by the will of the French people, they 
speedily let it be known that they came back by inherent 
and divine right. At the very outset, therefore, they 
gave offence, and prepared the way for the expulsion of 
the dynasty. 

Taking the decree of the senate as the basis of a 
constitution, Louis XVIIL, as an act of condescension, 
gave the French a constitutional charter (June 4), which 
assimilated the government as much as possible to that 
of Great Britain — a king with responsible ministers, a 
Chamber of Peers nominated by the king, and a Chamber 
of Deputies elected by qualified voters ; freedom of the 
press within certain limits, liberty cf conscience, and 
equality of taxation. The king, however, reserved the 
sole power of initiating laws, and the right to ' make 
regulations and ordinances necessary for the execution 
of the laws and the safety of the state.' It was evident, 
with such a power, the crown could at any time find an 
excuse for acts of the most arbitrary nature ; and such 
proved to be the case. As Louis XVIIL, with all his 
prejudices, had a fund of good-nature, he probably 
might have been less exacting, had he not allowed 
himself to be advised by the Count d'Artois, who 
sought in all things to restore the system in vogue 
before the Revolution. Much discontent was caused by 
the dismissal of the tricolour and resumption of the 
white national flag. It was beyond the power of the 



268 FRANCE. 

Bourbons, however, to abolish the Code Napoleon, to 
bring back the old system of weights and measures, or 
to make any serious change in the departmental system. 
A proposition was made to indemnify the losses to 
families caused by revolutionary violence ; but that was 
laid aside as impracticable ; all that the Chambers could 
do was to restore to their rightful owners all domains 
not yet alienated. 

There was much to adjust as regards the boundaries 
and the external relations of France, all which matters 
were referred to a congress of allied powers to sit at 
Vienna. The congress did not commence its proceed- 
ings until 29th July, for the allied sovereigns, after 
quitting Paris, had paid a ceremonious visit to London. 
By the Congress of Vienna, considerable changes were 
made on the German States. Holland and Belgium 
were united into one kingdom. The king of Holland, 
now designated the king of the Netherlands, acquired 
also the title and rights of Grand-duke of Luxembourg. 
Holland ceded to Great Britain the Cape of Good 
Hope, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice. With a lavish 
generosity, which has often been condemned, Great 
Britain relinquished Java; and that splendid possession 
exchanged the beneficent rule introduced by Sir Stam- 
ford Raffles for the mean, grasping tyranny of the Dutch. 
The possession of Malta was confirmed to Great 
Britain. Switzerland resumed its former character; as 
likewise did Spain and Portugal. France was restricted 
to its boundaries before the Revolution. While, during 
March 18 15, the congress was discussing the conflicting 
claims of Murat and the dispossessed branch of the 
Bourbons to the throne of the Two Sicilies, an abrupt 
stop was put to further proceedings, by the startling 



1815.] NAPOLEON'S FLIGHT FROM ELBA. 269 

intelligence that Napoleon had secretly left Elba, that 
he had landed at Cannes on the 1st March, and that, 
joined by General Labedoyere and the garrison of 
Grenoble, he was marching on Paris. Russia, Prussia, 
Austria, England, and other allied powers promptly 
prepared for hostilities. 

On his way to Paris, Napoleon distributed procla- 
mations fitted to win the population, and particularly 
the army, to his cause. He said he had come to restore 
the liberty of 1790; to secure all the results of the 
Revolution; to uphold the proprietors of the national 
domains threatened by the Bourbons; to raise again 
the national colours ; and to obtain an equality of rights 
to all. The soldiers everywhere revolted to him. 
At Lyons, he issued several decrees dissolving the 
chambers, and already acted as if he were at the head 
of the government. 

The news of Napoleon's landing excited a prodigious 
sensation in Paris. Louis XVIII. addressed the Cham- 
bers in a fervent speech, declaring his attachment to the 
charter, which he would ever maintain in its integrity ; 
and similar sentiments were uttered by the Count 
d'Artois. For a few days, there was every appearance 
of steadfast loyalty. The marshals, including Soult 
and Ney, and all the dignitaries of the state, tendered 
to the king their support and allegiance. Alas ! for 
the infirmity of French oaths and promises ! Ney 
accepted the command of the troops concentrating at 
Lons-le-Saulnier to arrest the invasion ; and at his 
audience, on taking leave, he said to Louis : ' Sire, I will 
bring back Bonaparte in an iron cage.' * Good-bye, 
marshal,' replied the monarch ; c I rely on your honour 
and fidelity.' Within a week, Soult and Ney gave their 



270 FRANCE. 

adhesion to the cause of Napoleon, carrying with them 
the whole of the troops under their command ! After 
this flagrant defection, Louis could not with safety 
remain in Paris. At midnight on the 19th March, he 
set out on his melancholy flight towards Lille, whence 
he retired to Ghent. On the 20th, Napoleon entered the 
Tuileries ; and such was the enthusiasm of his welcome, 
that he was literally borne by the crowd up the staircase 
of the palace, with cries of i Vive VEmpereur? 

This fervid reception did not meet with the general 
sympathy of the nation. There were fears of a second 
military invasion, and many consequent troubles. By 
the advice of Fouche, whom it was necessary to propi- 
tiate, Napoleon tried to stimulate popular favour by 
convoking an assembly of delegates from the depart- 
ments, with marshals and civil dignitaries, on the Champ 
de Mars, on the 1st of June. At this assembly, arranged 
with proper dramatic effect, after making one of his 
bombastic orations about Liberty and France, he placed 
his hand on the Gospels, and took an oath to observe 
the constitution. The ceremony concluded by a dis- 
tribution of eagles to numerous regiments. To conciliate 
the Chambers, he subsequently consented to various 
modifications in their favour. Great military prepara- 
tions were at the same time made by Napoleon for 
undertaking a campaign against the allied forces, full 
accounts of which were secretly and treacherously for- 
warded by Fouche to Wellington, by which means the 
allies knew in what direction the encounter was likely 
to take place. 

The plan formed by Bonaparte was, to hurry with 
his army into Flanders, and attack the English and 
Prussians before the Russians and Austrians came up 



i8is.] BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 271 

to their support. So rapid were his movements, that 
he encountered the army of the Prussians under Bliicher 
before the English army under Wellington could join 
him in sufficient force. On the 16th June, Napoleon 
defeated the Prussians at Ligny; a portion of his army, 
on the same day, attacked at Quatre Bras a British force 
which had been hastily collected, and which, though it 
held its ground, was compelled, on the retreat of the 
Prussians, to fall back on the 17 th to Waterloo. 

The battle of Waterloo — the culminating conflict in 
the protracted French war — was fought on the 18th 
June 1815, and has been so frequently described that a 
few particulars regarding it will here suffice. Napoleon 
brought to the field about 75,000 men, for the 
most part consisting of old and tried soldiers, led 
by Ney, Soult, Kellerman, and other skilled generals. 
The Anglo-Netherlands army amounted to nearly the 
same number, of which only 25,389 were British. The 
Prussians, under Bliicher, who arrived on the field of 
Waterloo only towards the close of the engagement, 
numbered 35,000. Viewed in comparison with recent 
battles fought between the French and Prussians, the 
battle of Waterloo was only a second or third rate 
combat, though as momentous in its results as any 
contest in modern history. The two greatest strate- 
gists of the age, Napoleon and Wellington, were con- 
fronted on nearly equal terms. Victory was at first 
doubtful, but the appearance of the Prussians decided 
it in favour of Wellington. The French, horse and 
foot, were thoroughly" routed, and Bonaparte turned and 
galloped off, accompanied by a few followers. The loss 
of killed and wounded by the British and their auxiliaries, 
was upwards of 15,000, and the Prussians lost on the 



272 FRANCE. 

whole nearly 7000; while the French lost 35,000, with 
several thousand prisoners. The intelligence of the 
victory caused the greatest delight all over Great Britain. 
The power of Napoleon was now believed to be pros- 
trated past all hope of recovery ; but, for the sake of 
security against any further outbreak, there was a resolu- 
tion to adopt the lfiost severe, though exceptional 
measures. 

There was still a possibility of gathering together some 
scattered forces, and making a stand against the allies. 
The fallen emperor, in his abject condition, did not 
attempt any movement of this kind; but hurrying to 
Paris, endeavoured to persuade the Chambers to sanc- 
tion new levies of troops on behalf of himself and the 
nation. All his efforts and those of a few steady sup- 
porters were fruitless. One of a committee of the 
Chambers who had been appointed to consider the 
unfortunate position of affairs, protested against any 
renewal of confidence in Bonaparte. His arguments were 
overpowering. ' Dare any one,' said he, l accuse France 
of fickleness or want of fidelity with regard to Napoleon? 
She has only been too faithful to him, as the bones of 
her sons on the sands of Egypt, on the frozen deserts of 
Russia, on fifty battle-fields, can testify. In a space of 
ten years, three millions of Frenchmen have perished 
for a man who would still keep Europe in a state of 
convulsion. We have done enough for him. Our duty 
now is to save the country.' In correspondence with 
these sentiments, a deputation, headed by Lafayette, 
waited on Napoleon to request him to abdicate. He 
hesitated, but next day, the 2 2d of June, he signed a 
document abdicating the throne. After referring to 
efforts to ' maintain the national independence/ he said : 



1815.I SURRENDER OF NAPOLEON. 273 

' Circumstances appear to me changed. I offer myself 
as a sacrifice to the hatred of the enemies of France. * 
My political life is tenninated, and I proclaim my son, 
under the title of Napoleon II., Emperor of the French.' 

The Chambers received the missive with much satis- 
faction, but took no heed of the qualification respecting 
Napoleon II., in whose name, however, some acts are 
alleged to have been recorded. A provisional government 
was formed to treat with the allies. Some of his old 
friends still counselled Napoleon to fight for his dynasty, 
but confidence in his cause had vanished. Borne down 
by the failure of all his high hopes, he retired to 
Malmaison, and the provisional government giving 
every facility for his flight, he retired to Rochefort, with 
the design of embarking for the United States. The 
attempted escape was frustrated. On the 15th July, he. 
voluntarily surrendered himself to Captain Maitland of 
the Bellerophon, claiming the protection of the British 
laws. 

On this the final fall of Napoleon Bonaparte — for 
his political and military career was for ever ended — we 
might offer various reflections. No one has ever dis- 
puted his great intellectual abilities and capacity for 
governing. His moral qualities were of an inferior order. 
He was cruel, selfish, untruthful, wholly regardless of 
what sufferings he inflicted in order to compass his 
ambitious designs. His murder of the Duke d'Enghien, 
and his divorce of Josephine, would alone condemn 
him to infamy. There was a period in his career 
when, had he contented himself with being ruler 
of France, he might have been a blessing to that 
unhappy country, by developing its resources, and — if it 
were possible — securing permanent stability. Cherishing 

R 



274 FRANCE. 

the demoniac design of overwhelming all the states in 
Europe, and making himself the supreme arbitrator, he 
became, as has been seen, a menace and terror. Under 
a sense of common danger, the reigning monarchs 
united in hunting him down like a wild beast. 
Brought to bay after his ' Reign of a Hundred Days/ as 
it has been called, he was at length a friendless, helpless 
fugitive, pacing the quarter-deck of a British war-vessel 
in the harbour of Plymouth — waiting like a condemned 
criminal for the judgment which should determine his 
mortal and melancholy fate. What a climax, at forty- 
six years of age, to a life of perverted opportunities of 
well-doing ! 

Once more, Paris x capitulated. On the 7 th July, 
Wellington and Bliicher made their triumphal entry 
into the subjugated city ; the inhabitants being indulged 
with the spectacle of English and Prussian drums 
beating, and banners flying, as regiment after regiment 
marched along the Boulevards. The provisional govern- 
ment made an effort to resist the recall of the Bourbons, 
but it was rendered ineffectual by the manoeuvres of 
Fouche; and, with the consent of the allied powers, 
Louis XVIII. resumed his residence at the Tuileries. 
In this, as in the previous military occupation, no 
private individual was molested. The English soldiers 
behaved with such laudable propriety that they had 
made themselves everywhere popular. Much of this 
good reputation was due to Wellington, for, on all 
occasions, he caused all matters of commissariat to be 
honestly paid for 5 whereas the Prussians, as in the case 
of the French armies, were too much given to the 
practice of forcing requisitions, and leaving destruction 
and mourning in their line of march. 



1815.] WELLINGTON IN PARIS. 275 

While occupying Paris, Wellington gave a series of 
fetes, to which it was deemed an honour to be invited. 
It was otherwise with Bliicher. Brooding over the 
humiliation of Jena, he was only with difficulty restrained 
from blowing up the bridge of that name, which 
Napoleon had built across the Seine. He and others 
had their revenge in getting back those treasures of 
art which the French had carried off from the countries 
they had overrun since 1796. The Prussians recovered 
upwards of two thousand articles of which they had been 
plundered. Rome got the Apollo Belvedere and Lao- 
coon, besides the pictures of which the Vatican had been 
robbed. Florence got the Venus de' Medici, and other 
works. Antwerp recovered the ' Descent from the Cross/ 
by Rubens. Venice rejoiced in getting her famous 
bronze horses. By these and other restitutions, enforced 
by Wellington, the famed galleries of the Louvre and 
public places in Paris were, as depots of stolen goods, 
stripped of what did not properly belong to them, 
and French acquisitiveness properly punished. 

Next came the adjustment of indemnities. By the 
arrival of the Russians and Austrians, the army of 
occupation in Paris was swelled to above 800,000 
troops, who were quartered on the inhabitants. During 
their stay of several months, each country put in its 
claim for what it had suffered by French aggression. 
The sum-total, including the expenses of the war, was 
;£6i, 400,000; besides which heavy bill for spoliation, 
France had to maintain an army of occupation of 
150,000 men, for not less than three years, in certain 
frontier fortresses. 

Another account remained to be settled. It was, 
to inquire into and punish the perfidy of those- who, 



276 FRANCE. 

having sworn allegiance to Louis XVIII., had become 
partisans of Napoleon during the Hundred Days. 
Many were tried and banished — Soult among the 
number. A more stern vengeance was reserved for 
Labedoyere, Lavalette, and Marshal Ney. The former 
two were condemned to be executed ; but Lavalette 
had the good fortune to escape from prison by dressing 
himself in his wife's clothes. Ney was also tried and 
condemned. Earnest efforts were made to save him 
from execution on a point of technical importance. 
The twelfth article of the capitulation stipulated that 
' individuals in the capital should not be disquieted or 
prosecuted in regard to the functions they may have 
occupied, or to their political conduct or opinions. ' 
Wellington was appealed to, but he officially declined 
to interfere — not, as is generally thought, on valid 
grounds — and as the king would listen to no plea for 
mercy, Ney suffered the penalty of death. He was 
shot in the garden of the Luxembourg, 7th December 
18 1 5. Murat, the beau sabreur, had already perished. 
Having landed on the coast of Naples, in the hope of 
recovering the throne of which he had been dispossessed 
by the Bourbons, he was seized, and shot on the 13th 
October. The fate of Napoleon was extraordinary, 
and justified by no existing law. Simplj on the ground 
of being an incorrigible disturber of the peace of 
Europe, England, with the concurrence of Russia, 
Prussia, and Austria, exiled him for life to the island of 
St Helena, where, fretting under alleged maltreatment by 
Sir Hudson Lowe, he expired on the 5th May 182 1. 

The confirmation of peace by the victory of Waterloo, 
caused fre^h outbursts of rejoicing in England ; for the 
long war had pressed heavily on the national resources. 



i820.] ASSASSINATION OF DUKE DE BERRL 277 

From the sum of ^23 1,000,000 in 1792, the national 
debt had risen to ^816,000,000 in 18 15, the differ- 
ence being ^585,000,000; this sum, however, by no 
means expresses the cost of the war; for, during its 
whole course, there had been excessive annual taxation. 
As only about ^60,000,000 of the debt have been 
discharged since 18 15, about five hundred years, at the 
same rate of reduction, will elapse before the national 
debt is brought down to the point it was at in 1792. 
So much for the war, first with the French Republic, 
and afterwards with Napoleon. It should excite little 
surprise that the people of Great Britain are solicitous 
to keep in future, as far as possible, clear of continental 
complications. 

Among the Bourbons who arrived in France in 18 14 
was the Duke de Berri, second son of the Gount 
d'Artois, and who for a time acted as commander of the 
troops round Paris. The duke was married in 18 16 to 
Caroline, eldest daughter of Francis, afterwards king of 
the Two Sicilies. On this marriage the continuance of 
the elder line of the Bourbons depended, for the dauphin, 
the Duke d'Angouleme, the elder brother of the Duke de 
Berri, had no children. By an unhappy occurrence, too 
common in connection with royalty in France, the Duke 
de Berri was assassinated by a person named Louvel, 
on the 13th February 1820, as he was conducting his 
wife from the opera-house. He left only one child, a 
daughter; but on the 29th September 1820, the widowed 
duchess gave birth to a posthumous son, Henry, Duke 
de Bordeaux, afterwards styled Count de Chambprd. 

The perils which the Bourbons had incurred by the 
Napoleonic interlude in no way opened their eyes to 
their true position. Clinging to their so-called inherent 



278 FRANCE. 

eights, they did not perceive that they were to a certain 
extent viewed as intruders. Surrounded by priests and 
the old noblesse, who maintained their antiquated feudal 
prejudices, Louis XVIII. rendered himself very un- 
popular. After an uneventful reign, he died unregretted, 
16th September 1824. Leaving no direct heirs, he was 
succeeded by his brother, the Duke d'Artois, as Charles 
X. The change brought no relief. There was the 
same ministerial incapacity, want of good "faith, petty 
views, and excessive priestly influence. Charles took 
the oath to the charter, but he soon displayed an inten- 
tion to restore as much as possible the absolutism of 
the old monarchy. Only in one thing was his reign 
memorable. This was the capture of Algiers in 1830. 
The act, by destroying a nest of corsairs, the pest of 
the seas, was a public benefit, but it entailed ruinous 
obligations on France. 

During the Algerine expedition, affairs came to a 
crisis; a fresh convulsion was at hand, mortal offence 
having been given by a royal speech, also by an arbitrary 
dissolution of the recently elected Chamber, and a sup- 
pression of the freedom of the press. In a country 
accustomed to constitutional forms, the people, in cir- 
cumstances of this nature, would rely for redress on 
peaceful agitation. This the French had not the temper 
to do. The Parisian populace, to whom all the revolu- 
tions of France are primarily due, took up arms, erected 
barricades, and set the royal authority at defiance. For 
the last three days of July 1830, there was fighting in 
the streets, and from 7000 to 8000 persons were killed. 
The king found himself compelled to flee. As a last 
resource, he abdicated the throne in favour of his 
grandson, Henry, Duke de Bordeaux, still a child, the 



1830.] EXPULSION OF THE BOURBONS. 279 

dauphin consenting to this act — but it was too late. 
All the members of the Bourbon family were allowed to 
depart quietly from the country. The Restoration had 
been a complete disappointment to all who expected 
that it would give permanent internal peace to France. 
A Sixth Revolution was effected, and all again was in a 
state of chaos. 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

LOUIS-PHILIPPE. — 1830 TO 1848. 

HPHE Duke of Orleans, the infamous Philippe Egalit^, 
who represented the Orleans branch of the 
Bourbons, left a family by his wife, the only daughter 
and heiress of the wealthy Duke of Penthievre. The 
elder of his sons, Louis-Philippe, Duke de Chartres, 
fought under Dumourier in the revolutionary army, and, 
like that general, becoming assured that the cause of 
moderation was lost, fled in 1793, and took refuge 
among the Austrians. For a time, Louis-Philippe sup- 
ported himself as a teacher in Switzerland; he after- 
wards travelled in America; and, in 1800, arrived in 
England, where he and his brother took up their resi- 
dence at Twickenham. On the Restoration, he proceeded 
to France as Duke of Orleans, recovered his property, 
and lived with his family at Neuilly, in the neighbour- 
hood of Paris. Watching the course of events, he was 
ready for any eventuality. 

In the emergency of the convulsion of 1830, a 
provisional government, composed of Lafitte, Lafayette, 
Thiers, and other politicians, turned towards the Duke 
of Orleans, whom it was proposed, in the first instance, 
to invite to Paris to become lieutenant-general of the 
kingdom, and afterwards, in a more regular manner, to 



1830.] LOUIS-PHILIPPE. 281 

become king. Thiers was the chief conductor of the 
negotiation. He expressed his conviction that nothing 
was left the Duke of Orleans but a choice of dangers, 
and that, in the existing state of things, to recoil from 
the possible perils of royalty, was to run full upon a 
republic and its inevitable consequences. The Chamber 
having declared the throne vacant, went in a body to 
the duke, and offered him the crown on the terms of a 
revised charter. The offer was accepted, and at his 
inauguration he adopted the title of Louis-Philippe I., 
king of the French; at the same time the tricolour was 
resumed. On taking his oath to the new constitution, 
Talleyrand <iryly remarked that it was the thirteenth he 
had sworn to support. 

Louis-Philippe had some good qualities — shrewdness, 
business habits, economy as to expenditure, propriety of 
conduct, and a wish to maintain the laws and public 
order. Tried in the school of adversity, and as an 
elective king, he had none of the overbearing arro- 
gance of the legitimate branch of the Bourbons. As 
a novelty, he was at first popular ; but from the outset 
of his kingly career, he experienced an exceeding diffi- 
culty in appeasing the rivalries of selfish politicians. 
He had only begun to reign, when Paris was convulsed 
with the trial of Polignac and other three ministers of 
Charles X., on the charge of high treason. Not that 
the bulk of the people took much interest in the 
condemnation of these persons, but the anarchists and 
revolutionists perceived that there was a favourable 
opportunity for a disturbance. Infuriated hordes vocif- 
erated : * Death to the ministers !' Those fearful figures 
were seen again, which had been known in the horrors 
of the first revolution, which came no one knew whence, 



282 FRANCE. 

but arose as if from the earth whenever atrocities were 
to be committed. The accused were only condemned 
to imprisonment; and by the adoption of proper 
measures, no serious outrage was enacted. Yet, there 
continued scenes of popular turbulence. The tyranny 
of idle ruffians produced a profound impression on 
the public mind, and sickened all rational people 
with the very name of liberty. What was the cost of 
this liberty but the absolute ruin of commerce and 
business of every description ? — the destruction of peace 
and comfort, the perpetuation of discord and strife? 
One universal sigh escaped the community, and it was 
for the return of security on any terms or conditions. 
Among the middle and industrious classes especially, 
this feeling was intense and overwhelming. It was only 
by extraordinary exertions that the new government was 
able to allay the general disquietude. 

Revolutionary tumults in France have ever led to 
political excitement in neighbouring countries. In Great 
Britain, the agitation for parliamentary reform gained at 
this time such force as to lead to the passing of certain 
well-known measures which effected extensive changes 
in the representation, in 1832. In the Netherlands, 
the excitement led to a revolution, by which Belgium 
was separated from Holland, and constituted, 10th 
December 1830, an independent kingdom, of which 
Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was elected to be 
king. 

Early in 1831, there began to be developed in France 
a deadly hatred against the bourgeoisie, or the middle 
classes, of whom Louis-Philippe, with his prudential 
notions, was held to be the representative. The accusa- 
tion was, that the bourgeoisie were guilty of diabolical 



1832.] LOUIS-PHILIPPE. 283 

selfishness and systematic robbery of the poor. It was a 
renewal of the insane cry of Robespierre and the Jacobins, 
which had been raised by the theories of Rousseau 
and the philosophers ; but to this old cry were added a 
variety of fanciful arguments to shew that the proletaire, 
or working-man, did not receive his proper share in the 
distribution of national wealth. To remedy the alleged 
injustice, the right thing to do was to establish a republic 
with an organisation of industry, in which the state 
should interfere for the protection of the working-man, 
and assure to him, for comparatively light labour, a" 
remuneration sufficiently ample to procure a share of 
the luxuries and pleasures of life. Such doctrines — 
amounting to a species of Socialism or general com- 
munity of goods and property — could not fail to be 
acceptable to the idle and disorderly. From the diffu- 
sion of these views concerning the organisation of labour, 
arose plots and disturbances which vexed the reign of 
Louis-Philippe. He had what might be called a con- 
tinual battle for existence, which- rendered it imperative 
on him to adopt those stringent and repressive measures 
which supplied to his indefatigable adversaries renewed 
grounds of reproach and vituperation. During his reign, 
by the advice of M. Thiers, Paris was surrounded with 
fortifications, at a cost of ^5,500,000 sterling, to which 
additional means of defence were afterwards made. 

An effort, not of a very imposing kind, was made to 
reinstate the elder branch of the Bourbons in France. 
The Duchess de Berri, accompanied by several friends, 
landed near Marseilles, 19th April 1832, with the 
ambitious design of placing her son, the Duke de 
Bordeaux, on the throne, as Henry V. After many 
adventures, she was obliged to hide herself from pursuit, 



284 FRANCE. 

but being betrayed, she was imprisoned in the citadel 
of Blaye. Here, she made a confession that she had 
formed a second marriage with a Neapolitan marquis, 
which at once destroyed her political importance, and 
the government restored her to liberty. 

Efforts of a similar nature were made by a mem- 
ber ' of the Bonaparte family, regarding whom some 
details are necessary. Louis Bonaparte, a younger 
brother of Napoleon, as has been seen, was created 
king of Holland, a position which he relinquished ; his 
death took place in 1846. . Married to Hortense 
Beauharnais, daughter of Josephine, he had three sons. 
The eldest of these died in childhood. The second, 
Louis Napoleon, died in 1831. The third, Charles 
Louis Napoleon, was born in Paris on the 20th April 
1808. His birth caused much rejoicing, as that of a 
possible heir to the imperial throne ; for, by the law of 
succession, the crown, in default of direct descendants 
of the emperor, could be inherited only by the children 
of two of his brothers — Joseph and Louis ; but Joseph 
having no sons, the sons of Louis became heirs-appa- 
rent. By the death of his two elder brothers, and also 
the death of the Duke de Reichstadt, son of Napoleon 
by Marie-Louise, 2 2d July 1832, Charles Louis Napo- 
leon, who dropped the first of these names, and became 
known as Louis Napoleon, was, therefore, legally heir to 
the Empire, though the Empire was, for the time being, 
extinct. Carefully educated under the superintendence 
of his mother Hortense, at Arenenberg, on the shore of 
Lake Constance, Louis Napoleon displayed considerable 
ability in the study of history and the exact sciences. 
From his mother, to whom he was much attached, he 
could scarcely fail to inherit literary, if not poetic, 



1837.] LOUIS NAPOLEON. 285 

tastes. Hortense was one of the most accomplished 
women of her time. She wrote several excellent songs, 
and likewise composed some deservedly popular airs; 
among others, the well-known Partant pour la Syrie, 
which became the national air of France. 

Impelled by fancies regarding his ' destiny,' Louis 
Napoleon resolved to make an attempt to restore the 
Empire, for which he believed an opportunity was 
presented by the rumoured unpopularity of Louis- 
Philippe. Accompanied by a few friends, he appeared 
at Strasburg on the 30th October 1836, and endea- 
voured to persuade the soldiers to follow his standard. 
The enterprise proved a failure. He was captured, 
conveyed to Paris, and, by the leniency of Louis- 
Philippe, was deported to America. The illness of his 
mother caused him to return to Europe, and he was 
present at her death, 3d October 1837. To avert a 
misunderstanding on his account between France and 
Switzerland, he now proceeded to England, and settled 
in London, where he was hospitably treated by various 
members of the British aristocracy. While residing in 
London, he, in 1838, published his Idees Napol'eoniennes, 
a work embracing certain theories of government, which 
were generally regarded in Europe as idle dreams, but 
in France the work went through numerous editions. 
In 1839, Louis Napoleon was in Scotland, and took 
part in the celebrated Eglinton tournament. During 
his visit to Scotland, he made himself acquainted with 
the peculiar local jurisdictions in that part of the United 
Kingdom. 

In 1840, Louis-Philippe gratified the feelings of the 
Parisians by bringing from St Helena the remains of the 
Emperor Napoleon, and ceremoniously consigning them 



286 FRANCE. 

to a tomb in the church of the Invalides. Taking 
advantage of the sentiment aroused on the occasion, 
Louis Napoleon once more plunged, into the folly of 
attempting, with a few adherents, to restore the Bona- 
partean dynasty. He landed at Boulogne on the 6th 
August, but the enterprise proved as abortive as that at 
Strasburg. The party of adventurers were seized, and 
taken to Paris. Brought to trial, Louis Napoleon was 
condemned to imprisonment for life, and forthwith was 
transferred to the fortress of Ham. After an imprison- 
ment of more than five years, during which he wrote 
several works, he made his escape in the disguise of a 
workman, 25th May 1846, and gained the frontier of 
Belgium, whence he returned to England. 

In the reign of Louis-Philippe, the older class of 
French notabilities were disappearing. Lafayette, a 
promoter of the first revolution, but who had happily 
escaped from its immediate consequences, died in 1834. 
Talleyrand, who had played so many strange parts, and 
was latterly French ambassador in London, died in 
1838. He left Memoirs, with injunctions that they 
should not be published till the lapse of a certain 
period after his decease. Lafitte, the eminent banker 
and financier, and a firm supporter of the Orleanist 
party, died in 1844. Almost all the men concerned 
in the i Reign of Terror ' had already passed away. 
Barras — he who had assisted at the attack on the 
Bastille, voted for the execution of Louis XVI., 
and concluded his changeful and not very reputable 
career as one of the Directory — had died in 1829; 
he left Memoirs of his times, which, being seized 
by the government, were never published. Among 
the last survivors was Barere, who was president of 



1841.] LOUIS-PHILIPPE. 287 

the Convention at the trial of Louis XVI., and whose 
flowery style, in advocating the most violent measures of 
the extreme party, got him the name of the Anacreon of 
the guillotine. At the fail of Robespierre, he was con- 
demned to deportation, but made his escape. During 
the Restoration, he lived in Belgium ; but at the Revo- 
lution of 1830 he returned to France, and was appointed 
a member of the general council of one of the depart- 
ments. His life was drawn out till 1841. 

Louis-Philippe's reign was marked by social and 
commercial prosperity. A state of peace permitted 
the development of the resources of the country. 
Improvements were effected in different towns, an 
enlarged system of primary education was introduced ; 
and France maintained, on the whole, good relations 
with foreign powers. Still, the king was not liked. 
He was considered to be intriguing, inclined to be 
despotic, undignified, and meanly avaricious. It must 
be admitted, however, that he had serious difficulties to 
contend with. There was a party, headed by Odillon 
Barrot, an eminent lawyer, with strong democratic ten- 
dencies. Thiers and his party advocated the principle 
that the king should reign, but not govern. Guizot and 
his followers formed a conservative party in the state, 
which would sanction arbitrary measures for the sake of 
public security. Besides these parties, there were under- 
hand factions of republicans and Bonapartists. Attempts 
were made on several occasions to assassinate the king, 
as a short way of getting rid of him. The most notable 
of these attempts was that by a man named Fieschi, 
28th July 1835, by means" of an 'infernal machine/ for 
which he was tried and executed. 

In 1842, Louis-Philippe suffered a deep affliction 



288 FRANCE. 

by the loss of his eldest son, Ferdinand, Duke of 
Orleans, who was thrown from his carriage, and so 
injured that he died almost immediately. This much- 
esteemed prince left two children, the elder of whom is 
known as the Count de Paris. It was a common belief 
that, had the Duke of Orleans lived,' his popularity 
would have saved the dynasty, and prevented the 
catastrophe which overtook the king. Be this as it 
may, about 1847 there arose loud demands for a reform 
in -the narrow electoral system, which were withstood by 
the king and the Guizot ministry. 

At the same time, there was wide-spread dissatisfac- 
tion on account of Louis-Philippe's efforts to get royal 
alliances for his family ; though, unless for a particular 
circumstance, there was nothing unusual or wrong in 
this species of ambition. He was alleged to be guilty 
of the intrigue of getting the queen of Spain married to 
a person impotent in body and mind, and then uniting 
his son, the Duke de Montpensier, to the sister and 
heir-presumptive of the queen, in the belief that their 
issue would inherit the Spanish throne. Great was the 
scandal caused by these ' Spanish marriages/ which 
till this day remain a blot on the memory of the citizen- 
king. Objections to Louis-Philippe on this score might 
have been of tittle consequence, could he and his 
ministry have agreed to some measures of electoral 
reform, and allowed fri 3 disc, don on political and 
religious subjects. There ensued a crisis, provoked by 
faults on both sides. It is true there was a narrow 
electoral system ; but was the nation prepared for 
universal suffrage ? There was a seeming harshness in 
repressing freedom of discussion ; but the incendiary 
language of the press was disgraceful, and it is clear 



I S4S. ] THE SE VENTH RE VOL UTIOX. 2S9 

that, unless a people discuss public questions with a 
degree of temper and discretion, very great evils may- 
arise, particularly among an easily excitable populace. 

Again was exhibited the want of all proper decorum 
in treating matters of public concern. Physical violence 
was substituted for calm constitutional agitation. ' Re- 
form banquets' began to be held; the government, fearing 
disturbance, attempted to prevent them by force, and 
insurrectionary movements took place. Barricades were 
once more erected in the streets of Paris. The National 
Guards fraternised with the people, and the palace of the 
Tuileries lay at the mercy of an infuriated mob. In the 
terror of the moment, the king abdicated, February 24, 
1848, in favour of his grandson, the Count de Paris, a 
child in his tenth year; which act of abdication was 
useless. A republic was proclaimed, and a provisional 
government appointed. The dethroned monarch, under 
various disguises, got safely back to England. His 
minister, Guizot, likewise fled from the country. The 
Revolution, the Seventh in number, was complete, and it 
was an error. A dynasty that might have taken root 
and done well was heedlessly expelled, without a thought 
of the consequences. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE SECOND REPUBLIC, SECOND EMPIRE, AND 
NAPOLEON III. — 1848 TO 1870. 

HPHE Republic set up in 1848 bore a resemblance to 
- 1 - that which had disgraced France in 1793. Among 
its * promoters were men^ with Socialist tendencies, 
who had become known as Red Republicans, from 
the circumstance that, instead of the tricolour, they 
desired to hoist a red flag, significant to many of 
universal rapine, or at least of some very violent re- 
organisation of society. Administered by Ledru Rollin, 
Louis Blanc, Albert, Lamartine, and several others, the 
provisional government had great difficulty in dealing 
with this formidable class of anarchists. Only by 
great tact did Lamartine prevail on them to forbear 
hoisting the red flag. Thfe tricolour, he told them, 
had made the tour of the globe — the red had only 
made the tour of the Champ de Mars ! Obliged 
to temporise with the frenzied notions of the rabble, 
national work-shops were established in Paris, to give 
employment and wages to all applicants; soon 60,000 
names were enrolled as candidates ; but the chief 
work performed by these national labourers was 
careering through the streets roaring revolutionary songs, 



1848.] THE SECOND REPUBLIC. 291 

proclaiming ( Liberty, equality, and fraternity/ and plant- 
ing trees of liberty on the sides of the thoroughfares. 

The ferment caused throughout Europe by the French 
revolutionary tumults of 1830, was nothing in com- 
parison with that which ensued on the convulsion of 1848. 
On this latter occasion, the extreme party in England, 
known as Chartists, threatened a species of revolution 
in London.. As a measure of intimidation, they proposed 
to make a popular demonstration by carrying a 'monster 
petition' to the House of Commons on the 10th April. 
Afraid that the public peace would be endangered, the 
inhabitants of London of all classes enrolled them- 
selves as special constables, and, by adroit management, 
the demonstration was effectually baffled and turned into 
ridicule. It is not uninteresting to note that, on this 
occasion, Louis Napoleon, while in London, appeared 
as a supporter of law and order, by enrolling himself as 
a special constable to assist the authorities. 

For several months the state of affairs in France was 
pitiable. With a universal feeling of insecurity, there 
was a great depreciation in the value of property, trade 
was paralysed, and a financial pressure ensued as ter- 
rible as that in the days of Robespierre. How bit- 
terly did the National Guards now regret having helped 
to drive away Louis-Philippe, and bring about this 
hapless state of things ! In June (1848), there was a 
frightful outbreak of the Red Republicans, barricades 
were raised, and there was an immense slaughter. The 
revolt was subdued by the military skill and dauntless 
energy of General Cavaignac. Under his protection, 
a Constituent Assembly prepared a republican con- 
stitution, with an elective president at the head of the 
government. 



292 FRANCE. 

Louis Napoleon now appears on the stage in a char- 
acter different from that which he had hitherto borne. 
Proceeding to Paris, and professing himself devoted to 
the views of the provisional government, he was elected 
deputy for Paris and three other departments, and, 13th 
June, took his seat in the Constituent Assembly. A 
stormy debate followed. On the 15th he resigned his 
seat, and left France. Recalled in the following Sep- 
tember, and re-elected deputy, he once more appeared 
in the Assembly, and, through the agency of his zealous 
supporters, commenced his candidature for the presi- 
dency. In this he was opposed by Cavaignac, who had 
been in reality the saviour of his country from anarchy. 
So profound- and ineradicable, however, was the venera- 
tion of the French people for the memory of' the great 
Napoleon, that, despite all Cavaignac's claims and 
services, Louis Napoleon was preferred by an over- 
whelming majority of many millions of votes. 

The second republic lasted three years. When the 
Socialists were looking forward to a new presidential 
election, Louis Napoleon executed his notable and 
unexpected coup d'etat, December 2, 185 1, by which 
he violently dissolved the constitution, on the ground 
that it was wholly unworkable, and at variance with the 
feelings of the people. This extraordinary measure, 
constituting the Eighth French Revolution, was, on 
moral considerations, obviously unjustifiable; for, assum- 
ing that the republic was a failure, there was no express 
obligation on the president to remain at the head of 
affairs : if dissatisfied, all he had to do was to resign, 
and retire to the private life from which he had been 
withdrawn. The excuse to his own conscience for per- 
petrating a violent overturn of the constitution, was 



1852.] NAPOLEON III. 293 

probably that, if he had thrown up the. reins of power, 
the country would have lapsed into a condition of 
anarchy; and judging the circumstance in the light of 
recent events, there were certainly grounds for anticipating 
a result of that nature. The coup tf'etat was confirmed 
by the national vote. The people at large approved of 
what had been done ; for, labouring under an apprehen- 
sion of falling under the rule of the Parisian rabble, they, 
gladly accepted an arbitrary government, which would at 
least allow them to live in peace and security. 

France by its own will was again under the rule of a 
dictator. Nominally assisted by a council of state, a 
senate, and legislative body, Louis Napoleon, as Presi- 
dent, was really an autocrat. Whatever may be said of 
the means by which he usurped this position, he did not 
belie his own promises of ruling the nation with firmness 
and benignity. The year 1852 was pre-eminently one 
of revival and progress ' throughout France, and, as if 
by an act of national gratitude, as well as from a con- 
tinued fear of the Red Republicans, Louis Napoleon 
was besought to assume the position of Emperor, which 
he did, 2d December 1852, under the style of Napoleon 
III. Early in the ensuing year, he selected a lady to be 
his wife, qualified to revive the memories of Josephine. 
To this lady, the Countess Eugenie de Teba, of united 
Spanish and Scottish extraction, he was married on the 
29th January 1853 ; and on the 16th March 1856, was 
born his son, known as the Prince Imperial. 

The leading events of his reign are within every 
one's remembrance — the Anglo-French alliance in the 
Crimean war, 1854 to 1856; the attempt on the emperor's 
life in 1858 by a miscreant named Orsini, who was 
executed in consequence; the Franco-Italian war, 1859, 



294 FRANCE. 

in which, by the victories of Magenta and Solferino, 
Lombardy and the Duchies were wrested from Austria. 
In recognition of Napoleon's services, Savoy was, in 
i860, ceded by the king of Sardinia to France, and 
it became the two departments of Savoie and Haute 
Savoie. In the same year was added the territory 
of Nice, which now forms the department of the 
Alpes Maritimes. Various acts of wanton aggression 
on foreigners by the government of Mexico, led to a 
French army being despatched to that country in 1862. 
Under the auspices of Napoleon, the unfortunate Arch- 
duke Maximilian of Austria was elected emperor of 
Mexico; but this dignity he enjoyed for only a short 
period. The French having withdrawn, Maximilian 
fell the victim of civil war ; being betrayed, he was tried 
by court-martial, and shot, July 19, 1867 — a circum- 
stance which caused much regret throughout Europe, 
and was felt to be a sore rebuff to France. Mean- 
while, Napoleon had not forgotten, amid the cares of 
government, the literary tastes and habits of his earlier 
years, as was evinced by the publication, in 1865, of an 
elaborate and scholarly Histoire de Jules Cesar. 

During the reign of Napoleon III., France had all the 
external symptoms of national progress. Everywhere 
there were marked improvements. Peace and order were 
secured. New industries were developed. Railways were 
extended all over the country. Paris was renovated so 
as to render it the most beautiful and attractive city in 
the world ; and if this was a too costly undertaking, the 
money was at least spent among the very classes who 
ultimately assailed the imperial rule. The most ami- 
cable relations were maintained with Great Britain, and 
a treaty of commerce entered into with that country. 



1869.] THE PLEBISCITE. 295 

At an International Exhibition in Paris in 1867, the 
emperor was surrounded by those friendly to science 
and art from all civilised nations, and never did he 
seem to receive so much popular homage. 

Yet, amid all these outward tokens of respect, there 
were murmurs of dissatisfaction. His rule, like that of 
his uncle, was personal and thoroughly centralised; it 
satisfied neither those who wished for a constitutional 
government, nor insured the continuance of his dynasty 
to his son. To conciliate the ultramontane or extreme 
Roman Catholic body, he kept in Rome, for the pro- 
tection of the pope, a large number of French troops 
and cannon ; thereby giving offence to the anti-church 
party in the large towns of France. Years of material 
progress had not, in the estimation of many politicians, 
atoned for the guilt of the coup diktat of 1851. With 
failing health, and ' aware of feelings of hostility arising 
from these causes, Napoleon endeavoured to fortify 
his position, by invoking the support of the national 
democracy. Accordingly, in 1869, he granted a con- 
stitution, with a popularly elected assembly and a 
responsible ministry ; to ratify which, and also ascertain 
the feelings of the nation regarding himself and his 
dynasty, he resorted to a plebiscite, or vote by 
universal suffrage; the result was an overwhelming 
decision, by eight millions of votes, in favour of the 
constitution and of his imperial rule, with his son as 
successor. 

There can be no doubt that for this imposing plebiscite 
in his favour, he was now, as formerly, indebted to the 
multitude of small proprietors in the rural districts ; but 
that such was the case, only demonstrates what may be 
proved by innumerable circumstances, that France, from 



296 FRANCE. 

the unhappy social condition impressed on it by the 
First Revolution, is unfit to undertake the obligations of 
a broad electoral system. n The plebiscite was in a sense 
a worthless sham, but for being so, the law of compulsory 
division of heritage was accountable — not Napoleon, 
who, like candidates for parliamentary honours, only 
took advantage of the franchise of his constituency. 
An appeal to a narrower circle would have been met 
by objections as determined as those employed against 
the limited electoral system of Louis-Philippe. 

Though elated by the success of his experiment, the 
emperor had some cause for chagrin in the fact, that 
there was a minority of fifty thousand votes against him 
in the army, the main cause of which was a feeling that 
he had neglected to take vengeance on Prussia for having, 
by its victory over Austria at Sadowa, risen to a posi- 
tion of rivalry with France. This irrational feeling, first 
entertained by the army, spread to the people of Paris 
and other towns. Proud of their military fame, and 
jealous of their pre-eminence in continental Europe, 
they saw with pain and surprise that their neighbour 
Prussia, at the head of the North German Confedera- 
tion, was rapidly outstripping them as regards geo- 
graphical dimensions, and political and military power. 
The successes of Prussia, under the guidance of M. 
Bismark, both as concerns the Schleswig-Holstein affair 
(1864-65), and the humiliation of Austria by the battle 
of Sadowa (1866), caused the French to prepare for war 
with this new and supposedly dangerous rival. Four 
years were spent in preparations for the struggle.. The 
older class of small fire-arms was superseded by the 
breech-loading Chassepot rifle, which was supposed to 
be equal to the needle-gun of the Prussians, and some 



1870.] PREPARATION FOR WAR. 297 

reliance was placed on a new engine of destruction 
called the mitrailleuse. All that was wanted was a 
pretext to declare hostilities. 

That a nation should have madly rushed on destruc- 
tion on a point of jealousy regarding the progress of 
a neighbouring people, is surely one of the strangest 
events recorded in history. The folly of the whole pro- 
cedure is aggravated by an inexcusable ignorance of the 
military force at the disposal of Prussia; and, what is 
still more culpable in the French, an ignorance of their 
own incapacity. As early as 1869, Colonel StorTel, 
French military attache at Berlin, had made full reports 
to his government concerning the preparedness of 
Prussia for war, and, at the same time, earnestly warned 
Napoleon of the necessity for military reorganisation. 
He said the Germans had no wish to go to war with 
France, but were prepared to do so if attacked, of which 
they had some apprehensions. From this and other 
documents, there is conclusive evidence that the French 
government were made fully aware of the nature of the 
antagonist they were inclined to attack, as well as of 
their own deficiencies. 

There is something singularly instructive and admoni- 
tory in the whole circumstances concerning the Franco- 
Prussian war. We, in the first place, invite attention to 
the Prussian military system, which has come on the 
world somewhat in the nature of a surprise. When the 
first Napoleon crushed Prussia in 1806, he imagined 
that, by limiting its armed force to an insignificant 
extent, the country would remain a poor second or third 
rate power. Precisely the reverse occurred. After the 
collapse at Jena, and when Prussia was lying prostrate 
"under the power of France, the reorganisation of her 



298 FRANCE. 

military resources was undertaken and carried out by 
Sharnhorst. The vital element of his plan was the 
short-service system, the design of which, while reconcil- 
ing itself to the obligations imposed by Napoleon, was 
to pass as many as possible of the population through 
the drill of the regular army. From 1806 till 1813, 
each conscript had to serve only six months with the 
colours, at the end of which he was enrolled in the 
militia of his district. Thus, in little more than six 
years, there was produced a nation of trained soldiers, 
who, at Leipsic and Waterloo, were the main instru- 
ments in overthrowing the power, of Napoleon. At the 
close of the war in 1815, the military force of Prussia 
was permanently constituted on the basis — 1st, of a 
standing army ; 2d, a Landwehr, or militia of the first 
call ; 3d, a Landwehr of the second call ; and 4th, the 
Landsturm. In i860, the system was modified, the 
term of service in the standing army was increased, and 
the Landwehr reduced to a secondary though still 
important position. So modified, the Prussian military 
system was extended to the whole North German 
Confederation; and the South German States in a 
great measure conformed to it. As thus arranged, the 
force that Germany can bring into the field is enormous, 
while the annual cost on a peace footing is comparatively 
small. 

In the Prussian system, which now may be said to be 
the German system, every native is at his birth viewed 
as an incipient soldier ; only those who become clergy- 
men or are physically unfit being excepted. When 
he has completed his twentieth year, the youth is liable 
to be called to serve. No substitutes are allowed. On 
the peace footing, a certain number of recruits — about 



1870.] THE PRUSSIAN MILITARY SYSTEM. 299 

one for every three hundred of the whole population — 
are drafted every year from the young men who have 
just reached the military age. Those who escape being 
drafted, and who are considerably more than those on 
whom the lot falls, are put on the list of the Ersatz, or 
Supplementary, Reserve, and are not called out, or even 
drilled, except in the case of a very serious war like that 
with France. The recruit serves three years with the 
colours of his regiment (with an exception to be after 
mentioned), and is then placed on the Regimental 
Reserve, where he continues four years. He then passes 
from the standing army into the Landwehr of the district 
to which he belongs. After five years in the Landwehr, 
he is enrolled in the Landsturm, which is called out 
only for home defence, in case of invasion. On the 
breaking out of war, the strength of the regiments is 
doubled, by calling up the requisite numbers from the 
Regimental Reserve, in which case the limits as to time 
of service are disregarded. If necessary, the Landwehr 
is also mobilised; and every man within the military 
age may be called out. An exception as to length of 
service with the colours is made in favour of those who 
volunteer to serve at their own cost ; one year of such 
service stands for the usual three. These one-year 
volunteers are an important element in the Prussian 
system. They must produce certificates from school or 
college of a certain grade of attainments and of good 
conduct, as well as proof that they can provide their 
own outfit and maintenance ; they are then allowed to 
join a regiment of the line. 

The volunteer must strictly attend drills, parades, &c. ; 
but when not actually on duty, he can live where and 
how he pleases. This saves the delicately nurtured and 



300 FRANCE. 

well educated from mixing in the barrack-room with the 
humbler class of recruits ; Kesides that the one year's 
services interferes less in time of peace with the civil 
pursuits of the middle classes. The volunteer may even 
serve his year before the regular age, but not under 
seventeen. It has long been considered a regular part 
of the education of the sons of a landed proprietor, 
professional man, or even well-to-do shopkeeper, to pass 
through such a course. There is always an immense 
mass of the wealthy and educated youth thus present in 
the regiments of the standing army ; and as, when their 
service is over, they pass into the reserve, and then into 
the Landwehr, they contribute largely to that character 
of intelligence and high-minded patriotism for which 
these branches of the service are distinguished. It is 
from these one-year's men that the officers of the Land- 
wehr are mainly drawn; during their year of service, 
every facility is afforded to such as shew special aptitude 
and aspirations to qualify themselves for promotion. It 
is only in the Landwehr that commissions are accessible 
to the middle classes. The constitution of the Prussian 
regular army is exceedingly aristocratic. The officers, 
besides being professionally qualified, must be of high 
standing as to social position and means — a circumstance 
which has at times given some dissatisfaction, but with 
no actual disadvantage to the service. 

Few countries have increased in extent and power 
so remarkably as Prussia/ In the early part of the 
eighteenth century, its population was only two and a 
quarter millions, and its army only 84,000 strong. At 
the death of Frederick the Great in 1786, its territory 
was doubled, and the population was five and a half 
millions. In the reign of his successor, another addition 



1870.] THE PRUSSIAN MILITARY SYSTEM. 301 

was made \ but the army that met Napoleon was not 
over 120,000. Since that time, so great has been the 
extension that, shortly previous to 1866, Prussia had a* 
population of nineteen and a half millions. The Prussia 
with which France waged war in 1870, had twenty-four 
millions; including the North German Confederation, 
of which it was the head, the population was thirty 
millions. The North German army numbered 319,000 
in peace, and 977,000 in war. Even on the war 
footing, it was calculated that there were still 116,000 
trained men uncalled out, who were not beyond their 
period of service. This was not all. The South 
German States, including Bavaria, Baden, and Wiirtem- 
berg, with which there were treaties of alliance, could 
add a war-force of 255,000. The total war-force of 
north and south, in a high degree of efficiency, was 
1,233,000. No nation in the world can bring such a 
mass of soldiers into the field; and from what we have 
'said as to the method of Reserve and Landwehr, no 
nation maintains an army ready for active service so 
cheaply. Standing armies on the old plan, while of 
ruinous cost, fall immeasurably short in the case of 
national exigency. No doubt the Landwehr system is 
one which could be applied with safety only in countries 
with a pervading spirit of loyalty, and where personal 
sacrifices are not grudged in the great cause of national 
defence. 

When we bear in mind that, with the marvellously 
comprehensive military system of Prussia, there pre- 
vails a universal and compulsory education, an idea is 
obtained of the potency of any army which takes the 
field, comparing it especially with any military force 
raised by conscription or enlistment from a generally 



302 FRANCE. 

ignorant population. The whole mecanique, in short, 
of the German armies, with their system of telegraphic 
communication, to keep different corps acquainted with 
each other's movements; and, above all, their good 
order and discipline, gave an immensely preponderating 
power Against the forces of France, which circumstances 
had conspired to render deplorably inefficient. 

The long-looked-for pretext to go to war with Prussia 
was found in the attempt to place a Prussian prince, 
Leopold of Hohenzollern, on the throne of Spain, at 
the beginning of July 1870. Against this proposed 
arrangement, the Parisians loudly protested through the 
press and otherwise. M. Benedetti, French minister at 
Berlin, was requested to ask explanations, for which 
purpose he followed King William of Prussia to Ems. 
As a measure of pacification, Prince Leopold renounced 
his candidature, but this did not satisfy the French 
government, which wished assurances that the prince's 
candidature should not be renewed at a future oppor- 
tunity. On the 13th July, Benedetti claimed a promise 
of this kind from the king, which was firmly refused. 
This, the Duke de Grammont, French minister of 
foreign affairs, construed into a deliberate insult; and 
M. Ollivier, prime-minister, stated to the Legislative 
Body, that necessary measures were being taken ' to 
guard the interest, the security, and the honour of 
France.' All parties concurred in the propriety of 
going to war, though some, Thiers among the number, 
thought the occasion was not exactly opportune. A 
little patience would have adjusted differences; the 
British government endeavoured to bring about a re- 
conciliation, but without avail — the French executive 
and legislature said the honour of the nation was 



1870.] WAR WITH PRUSSIA. 303 

compromised. On the 2 2d July, the emperor received 
the members of the Legislative Body, the president of 
which addressed him as follows : 

'Sire — The Legislative Body has terminated its 
labours, after voting all the subsidies and laws necessary 
for the defence of the country. Thus, the Chamber has 
joined in an effective proof of patriotism. The real 
author of the war is not he by whom it was declared, 
but he who rendered it necessary. There will be but 
one voice among the people of both hemispheres, throw- 
ing, namely, the responsibility of the war upon Prussia, 
which, intoxicated by unexpected success, and encour- 
aged by our desire to preserve to Europe the blessings 
of peace, has imagined that she could conspire against 
our security, and wound our honour with impunity. In 
these circumstances, France will know how to do her 
duty. The most ardent wishes will follow you in the 
army, the command of which you will assume, accom- 
panied by your son, who anticipating the duties of 
maturer age, will learn by your side how to serve his 
country. Behind you, behind our army, accustomed to 
carry the noble flag of France, .stands the whole nation 
ready to recruit it. Leave the regency without anxiety 
in the hands of our august sovereign the empress. To 
the authority commanded by her great qualities, of 
which ample evidence has been already given, her 
majesty will add the strength now afforded by the liberal 
institutions so gloriously inaugurated by your majesty. 
Sire, the heart of the nation is with you, and with your 
valiant army.' 

To this address, the emperor made a suitable reply. 
Whatever opposition there was to the war was of a very 
feeble, kind. No sort of public demonstration was made 



304 FRANCE. 

against it. In the senate, the proposition to attack 
Prussia was hailed with the utmost enthusiasm. On 
quitting the hall, the senators were greeted with loud 
cheers, and cries of c Vive la France! a has la PrusseP 
In the Constitiitionnel, were the exclamations : * Prussia 
insults us ; let us cross the Rhine ; the soldiers of Jena 
are ready.' The streets of Paris resounded with the cry, 
'a Berlin;' 1 and when the army marched off, the shop- 
keepers rushed forth to treat the soldiers with wine and 
cigars, and wish them a hearty success. Under such 
impulses, the emperor, on the 23d July, made a pro- 
clamation of war, in which he said ' that Prussia, 
launched on the path of invasion, had aroused defiance 
everywhere, necessitated exaggerated armaments, and 
turned Europe into a camp where nothing but uncer- 
tainty reigns. A last incident had shewn the instability 
of internal relations. The protestations of the French 
had been contemptuously evaded. The country had 
resented this with profound irritation, and immediately 
a cry for war resounded from one end of France to the 
other.' 

Appointing a regency under the Empress Euge'nie, 
Napoleon, on the 28th, left St Cloud by railway towards 
the eastern frontier, taking with him his son, the Prince 
Imperial, a boy fourteen years of age. Preserving their 
neutrality, yet alarmed for eventualities, the people of 
Great Britain looked with astonishment at this wholly 
unforeseen outburst. It was universally allowed that 
the French had received no proper provocation for 
going to war. At the same time, the conduct of Prussia 
in its dealings with Denmark in 1864, and its subsequent 
absorption of Hanover, Frankfort, and some other small 
states, had damaged its reputation ; the general notion 



1870.] WAR WITH PRUSSIA. 305 

was, that its pursuit of schemes of German unity might 
lead to international difficulties in which Great Britain, 
with all its desire for neutrality, might be somehow 
unpleasantly concerned. In short, if France was wrong, 
Prussia had incurred suspicions by its aggressions. 

The principal dra,7natis persona at the opening of the 
campaign were as follows : On the Prussian side — 
William, king of Prussia; his son, the Crown-Prince; 
his nephew, Prince Frederick-Charles; the Crown-Prince 
of Saxony; Count Bismark, chancellor of the North 
German Confederation; and General von Moltke. While 
Germany is indebted to Count Bismark for the political 
and diplomatic part of the work of the recent reorganisa- 
tion, so to Moltke, with his profound military genius, 
is due the merit of the strategical. On the side of 
the French — Napoleon; Marshals M'Mahon^ Bazaine, 
and Lebceuf, with some generals of less note. Besides 
the forces employed in garrisons, France, according to 
the best accounts, had in active service at the seat of 
war from 300,000 to 350,000 trained soldiers — cavalry, 
infantry, and artillery : much beyond this number it was 
not able to raise, and in the extremity of what may be 
called its death-struggle, had to rely on National Guards 
and Gardes Mobiles, both of which, in point of discipline, 
were unfitted to encounter a resolute well-trained force. 
The number of German troops, in ^different divisions, 
amounted to fully 600,000, or nearly double the forces 
of the enemy. 

To compensate for inferiority of numbers, Napoleon 
relied on celerity of movement, first by massing troops 
at Metz, Chalons, and Strasburg, and then pushing for- 
ward across the Rhine, so as to sever the forces of 
North from South Germany. He had been led to 

T 



306 FRANCE. 

expect that South Germany was inclined to take part 
against Prussia, and only waited for the opportunity to 
do so. Here, again, he was ' betrayed/ by false informa- 
tion ; for both North and South were firmly united to 
oppose the invasion of Fatherland. But the greatest 
mistake was a dependence on the preparedness of his 
own forces. They were not ready to encounter a foe 
for whom everything, to the minutest particular, had 
been provided. To the general surprise, Napoleon lost 
more than a fortnight after the declaration of war. 
His forces were detained either for want of equipments, 
or because they could not leave Paris, Lyons, and Algeria 
till garrisons were provided to take their place. In 
plain terms, the Germans were ready, while the French 
were not, besides being inferior in numbers, and inferior 
as regards commanders possessing the requisite fore- 
sight and strategical knowledge ; and in these few words 
the fate of the war is explained. Instead of hastening 
on to Berlin, according to the tactics of the first 
Napoleon, and as was expected by the Parisian populace, 
Napoleon III. never got his army across the Rhine, and 
had to fight at a disadvantage within the borders of 
Alsace and Lorraine. The emperor did not leave Metz 
to commence operations till the 2d August. He was 
present the same day at an encounter at Saarbruck, 
which was magnified by French newspapers into a 
victory ; and the affair was rendered ridiculous by the 
Prince Imperial being described, by his father, as having 
received his ' baptism of fire.' 

After a first partial success at Saarbruck, the French 
suffered a series of disasters, such as might reason- 
ably have been expected in the circumstances. The 
Germans excelled in forethought, strategy, rapidity of 



1870.] WAR WITH PRUSSIA. 307 

action, discipline, and knowledge of the country; 
their whole operations being evidently guided by a 
central and acute intelligence. Keeping in remem- 
brance the military glories of the First Empire, the 
shortcomings of the French were matter of surprise 
to Europe. The army appeared to be without a head. 
The emperor allowed directions to come from the 
government in Paris. His generals were checked and 
embarrassed in their movements, and were frequently 
as ignorant of the position of the enemy as they were of 
the topography of the district, though it was in their own 
country. The maps in use were full of blunders. The 
most woeful deficiency was the want of discipline. The 
men entertained no respect for their officers, and the 
line of march sometimes resembled a straggling mob. 
There was a want of alacrity in moving from point to 
point. On one occasion, a detachment, instead of 
pushing forward, waited to give a ball. The v soldiers 
fought with the traditional valour of ' Frenchmen, but 
modern warfare is more a game of strategical move- 
ments, and cannonading at long range, than absolute 
hand-to-hand fighting; and in that respect the French 
were lamentably defective. The mitrailleuse, on which 
so much was reckoned, proved of small importance. 

We can but run over the leading incidents. On the 
4th August, M'Mahon's army-corps was almost destroyed 
at Weissenbourg by the Crown-Prince of Prussia. - On 
the 6th was fought the battle of Worth, when the Crown- 
Prince again defeated M'Mahon, and caused a loss of 
6000 men, with thirty pieces of cannon and six mitrail- 
leuses. On the 14th, the Prussians occupied Nancy. On 
the 1 6th, Bazaine's army was driven back on Mars-la- 
Tour. On the 18th was fought the battle of Gravelotte, 



3o8 FRANCE, 

and Bazaine retired to an intrenched camp around 
Metz; attempting to break from which on the 26th, he 
was repulsed. On the 30th, the French, under De Failly 
and M'Mahon, suffered heavy losses, and were forced 
to retreat to Sedan, where Bazaine, being hemmed in at 
Metz, could not come to their succour. Drawing round 
Sedan, the Germans fought a great battle on the 1st 
September, which, by their superior artillery and general- 
ship, at once determined the fate of the war. Perceiv- 
ing that the position of the army was hopeless, and 
disdaining to attempt a flight, as some about him 
recommended, Napoleon adopted the painful alternative 
of rendering himself a prisoner. Writing to the king of 
Prussia, he said : ' Not having been able to die in the 
midst of my troops, it only remains for me to place 
my sword in the hands of your majesty.' In reply, the 
king expressed regret at the circumstances under which 
they met, accepted the sword, and designated General 
Moltke to treat for the capitulation of the army which 
had fought so bravely. An interview took place between 
the two sovereigns, and to Napoleon, as a prisoner of 
war, on parole, was assigned the palace of Wilhelmshohe, 
near Cassel, to which he proceeded with a large body 
of attendants. 

On the 2d September took place the surrender of 
Sedan, with the French army centred at the spot ; the 
capitulation being signed by General Wimpffen, in 
consequence of M'Mahon being wounded. By the 
surrender, 80,000 men were made prisoners, in addition 
to 20,000 taken the previous day; there was likewise 
rendered up a vast quantity of cannon and military 
stores. The capture of Sedan, with such an enormous 
number of prisoners, was, until this time, the most 



1870.] SURRENDER OF SEDAN. 309 

remarkable event of the kind in modern military annals. 
With the capture of Sedan, there was nothing to detain 
the main body of the Prussians from marching on Paris ; 
which they did, leaving portions of the army to invest 
Strasburg, Metz, and other frontier fortresses, with large 
bodies of French so effectually shut up in them as to 
be unable to relieve the capital. 

Paris was meanwhile the scene of some memorable 
events. When, on the 7th August, news arrived of the 
defeat at Worth on the previous day, there was a general 
consternation. The empress convoked the Chambers, 
the people demanded arms, and the department of the 
Seine was declared in a state of siege. On the 9th, the 
Ollivier ministry resigned, and next day a new adminis- 
tration was formed by Count Palikao. On the 17th, 
General Trochu was appointed to the military command 
of Paris. With the reverses of the army, the emperor 
began to be depreciated, but his cause was not generally 
abandoned till intelligence was received of the disaster 
at Sedan. On him was now conveniently thrown the 
whole blame of the war, and it was proper he should be 
dethroned. The very parties who shouted l a Berlin' 
were the readiest in denouncing the war as an error, and 
crying for the decheance (deposition) of Napoleon and 
the expulsion of the Bonapartes. The only thing to 
save the country was alleged to be a republic, for which, 
among the populace, there was a clamorous demand. 

Sunday, 4th September, saw the fall of the Second 
Empire. At a meeting of the Legislative Body, a 
communication from the Empress Eugenie was .read, 
appointing a committee of ministers, of which Palikao 
was the chief, to form a y Council of Government and 
National Defence;' but the proposal met with little 



310 FRANCE. 

attention. Jules Favre proposed the deposition of the 
emperor. M. Thiers would not object to the motion, 
but, at the instance of a number of members, proposed 
that the Chamber should appoint a ' Commission of 
Government and National Defence.' M. Gambetta was 
in favour of the proposition for ' forfeiture of power 
pure and simple/ But before any definite resolution 
was come to, a tumultuous throng rushed into the hall 
with cries of i Vive la RepubliqueP whereupon the 
president declared that deliberation was impossible, 
and the sitting was at an end. Intelligence of the 
uproar having reached the Senate, that body adjourned. 
Neither branch of the legislature met again, for the 
National Guard and other troops had fraternised with 
the mob, and calm discussion was impossible. It was 
only understood that the emperor was deposed, and that 
he was to be succeeded by a republic. The members 
of the legislature^ ministers and all, had, in fact, deserted 
their post. In a manner most irregular, and barely 
intelligible, the government had been overthrown with- 
out firing a shot. A Revolution, the Ninth in the 
series, had been effected in the course of a Sunday 
afternoon. Count Palikao having informed the empress 
that he could no longer answer for her safety, she 
quietly departed from the Tuileries, and went on her 
way to England, where she joined her son, who had 
arrived a few days previously. Within an hour after the 
legislative bodies closed their sittings, members of the 
opposition met at the H6tel-de-Ville, and proclaimed a 
republic, with a provisional Government of National 
Defence, composed of Gambetta, Jules Favre, Pelletan, 
Rochefort, Jules Ferry, Jules Simon, Ernest; Picard; 
Kerratry, prefect of police ; and Arago, mayor of Paris. 



1870.] DEPOSITION OF NAPOLEON. 311 

Whatever might have been necessary as regards 
national defence, the proclamation of a republic without 
the consent of the nation at large was clearly unwarrant- 
able. A handful of politicians had, under sanction of 
the mob, committed what we must characterise as a gross 
act of usurpation. The populace, courted and feared, 
had once more the supreme control; once more they 
wreaked their vengeance on objects which reminded 
them of the past rule to which they had been abjectly 
subservient. Busts of the emperor were torn down 
from buildings, and tossed into the Seine. His portrait, 
and that of the empress, were thrown into the street 
and trampled under foot with the delirious joy which 
had been manifested in 1793 over the emblems of the 
ancient monarchy. The usual change in the names of 
streets naturally followed. 

At the outbreak of the war, there had commenced a 
persecution of those Prussians who, following some civil 
occupation, resided in France. Many thousands were 
chased away, and in the streets of Paris many met with 
cruel maltreatment. After the fall of Sedan, when the 
Parisian populace were in a state of exasperation, this 
unjustifiable persecution was carried on with increased 
virulence, and it became customary to speak of the 
Prussians as 6 barbarians.' 



CHAPTER XX 

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENTS — 1870, 1871 — 
CONCLUSION. 

"\ 1 TE have arrived at a point in our narrative where 
history is lost in the current of passing events — 
events, however, which cannot but leave an indelible 
impression on the memory of people now alive. What 
can be more suggestive of the insecurity of human 
greatness than that scene of turbulent passion and 
ingratitude, when Napoleon III., after giving peace to 
France, and promoting its material prosperity during a 
period of eighteen years, was, at a moment of misfor- 
tune, which at least called for sympathy, thrust aside 
with every mark of disrespect, and a state of national 
disorder inaugurated, of which no one can foresee the 
end. Bad as things had been at the dismissal of 
Louis-Philippe, they were now infinitely worse. A 
foreign enemy, as exacting as powerful, was pursuing a 
career of conquest in the country. The settled govern- 
ment had been abruptly overthrown, and the duty of 
repelling invasion, as well as of restoring order, was 
assumed by a few unscrupulous politicians. With no 
army in the field except some meagre fragments, and 
certain roving irregular bands known as francs-tireurs 



1870.] PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 313 

(free-shooters), the difficulties of the situation were 
unparalleled. The French navy had been despatched 
to assail the shores of the enemy in the Baltic, but its 
operations came to nought From first to last, the 
nation seemed to act like men bereft of their senses. 

After the capture of Sedan, the war was in a great 
measure one of sieges. The bulk of the French army 
not carried off as prisoners, was shut up in fortresses, 
without the possibility of relief, while the Prussians were 
left unmolested to march on Paris, and adopt measures 
for its investment. On the 5 th September, King William 
entered Rheims. At his approach, the government 
ordered all the forage, provisions, and live-stock in the 
neighbourhood to be brought into Paris. Foreseeing 
the impracticability of conducting the public affairs of 
the country within a besieged city, the government, 
on the 1 2th September, despatched Cremieux to repre- 
sent them at Tours, beyond the immediate reach of the 
Prussians, which delegation was attended by the English 
and several other ambassadors. At the same time, M. 
Thiers was deputed to visit the principal courts in 
Europe, in the hope of securing allies for France. His 
mission proved unavailing. The resolution on all sides 
was to remain neutral. As regards Russia, there was 
reason to believe that it had a private understanding 
with Prussia, which pledged it not to interfere. 

On the 19th September the Germans arrived in force, 
and spread themselves at a certain distance around, Ver- 
sailles being secured as their headquarters. The invest- 
ment of Paris was completed on the 21st, when the mails 
ceased, and all regular entrance within the impenetrable 
ring formed by the besieging force was stopped ; a popu- 
lation of 2,000,000, with an enormous garrison, were 



314 FRANCE. 

secluded from the outer world, or left to hold communica- 
tion only by means the most precarious and exceptional. 
There was a lively expectation that relief would come 
from the forces at Strasburg, Metz, and other places, 
breaking through the lines of investment; and the credu- 
lous population of the capital, buoyed up by false intelli- 
gence, waited with a wonderful degree of composure 
for the arrival of these anticipated succours. It was a 
cruel deception. One garrison after another surrendered 
themselves prisoners of war. Toul capitulated on the 
23d September, and Strasburg, after a severe bombard- 
ment, on the 27th, when 17,000 men laid down their 
arms. 

In the whole affair, there was a mixture of the 
pathetic and the ludicrous. Driven to their wits' end 
for means of communicating with the outer world, the 
Parisians got up a manufacture of balloons, which, filled 
with gas from the public gas-works, formed a species 
of stage-coaches to fly through the air, carrying passen- 
gers who were inclined to risk themselves in the clouds, 
and pay the heavy cost of this hazardous conveyance. 
In setting off the balloons, it was necessary to study the 
direction of the wind. With good luck, and a suitable 
current in the atmosphere, and also when so fortunate 
as to escape a storm of Prussian bullets, these aerial 
machines carried passengers and mails in the required 
direction. By one of them, which happily escaped any 
misadventure, M. Gambetta left Paris, and, on the 8th 
October, descended near Amiens, whence he proceeded 
by Rouen to Tours, to help the delegated government 
The balloons being unable to make return journeys, 
they were charged with carrier-pigeons, which, with 
unerring instinct, brought back letters and scraps of 



1870J SIEGE OF PARIS. 315 

public news, written in diminutive form on thin paper, 
tied to some part of their body. 

To such miserable expedients was Paris put, with 
its teeming population, during this memorable siege. 
Amid proclamations that, for the honour of France, 
two millions of citizens had 'made a pact with death/ 
and would sutler martyrdom rather than yield, great 
privations began to be experienced in the course of 
November, after an investment of two months. Animal 
food of the ordinary kind was now running short. 
Rations of meat were served out, to the extent of thirty 
grammes a head daily. Horse-flesh was sold in the 
markets. Cats and rats became articles of fare, and, as 
the famine increased, were eagerly sought for. It is 
not for us to dwell on the horrors of the siege, nor to 
enter into details regarding the ever-increasing mortality 
from insufficient diet, and want of fuel, in a season 
remarkable for its inclemency. Some may call it a 
heroic, a noble struggle ; but to onlookers it was hope- 
less, useless, and wasteful. The year 1870 closed with 
defeats, and 187 1 opened with a fresh series of reverses. 
Faidherbe in the north, and Chanzy in the south, were 
equally unable to make head against the German hosts. 
Mezieres capitulated on the 2d January. Trochu, Vinoy, 
and Ducrot tried a grand sortie on the 19th, and 
were forced to retreat. The French, under Garibaldi, 
had alternate successes and reverses at Dijon, which 
had no effect on the war. Belgium on the one side, 
and Switzerland on the other, were continually deluged 
by fugitives from the French forces. On the 25 th, 
Longwy capitulated. 

In the hope of arranging terms of peace, Jules Favre 
had an interview with M. Bismark at Ferrieres, near 



316 FRANCE. 

Lagny, about twelve miles east of Paris. To representa- 
tions as to the desire of France for peace, the chancellor 
said that the king of Prussia had no wish to protract 
the war, but, for the future security of Germany, it was 
indispensable to have Alsace and Lorraine, with Stras- 
burg, Toul, and Phalsbourg. Overcome with emotion, 
Favre could not consent to the proposal, and sought for 
an armistice, during which an Assembly might meet at 
Paris to consider terms of adjustment Bismark had 
no objections to an armistice, in which case, however, 
the French would require to render up Fort Valerien 
by way of hostage. There the interview ended ; and 
France, from a too confident expectation of securing 
better terms by continuing the war, only, as it will 
appear, increased the indemnity for which Prussia, by 
its marvellous successes, was enabled to stipulate. In 
response to the congratulations of the National Guard 
of Paris, Jules Favre said the government had sworn 
\ not to yield one stone of the fortresses, and not one 
inch of territory; and will remain faithful to this 
engagement ■ — an oath which, if taken, was in both 
particulars falsified. 

At short intervals, the German army available for 
active operations was increased by the fall of the frontier 
fortresses. Soissons capitulated on the 16th, Schelestadt 
and Metz on the 27th October. This last was a severe 
blow to France, for 173,000 men laid down their arms, 
3000 cannon were taken, and about 200,000 of the 
besieging force were set free to carry on the war in other 
parts of the country. Verdun capitulated on the 8th, 
and Thionville on the 24th November; after which 
there were successive capitulations of lesser importance. 
The French were buoyed up with a gleam of success on 



1870.] SIEGE OF PARIS. 317 

the Loire. The Germans, who had taken possession of 
Orleans on the nth October, were defeated on the 
9th November by General Aurelles de Paladine, and 
Orleans was reoccupied ; but on the 4th December the 
French were forced to surrender it again to the Ger- 
mans. During the conflict on the Loire, the north of 
France was gradually overrun by the Prussians. On the 
28th November, General Manteuffel took possession of 
Amiens. 

; The fortitude with which the people and garrison of 
Paris endured a prolonged siege caused general surprise. 
Besides being supported by the national ardour of senti- 
ment, and a desire to appear united in face of the enemy, 
they were daily encouraged by the most mendacious 
statements of French successes, and by a belief in some 
mysterious plan which General Trochu had devised for 
breaking through the line of investment. But this 
extraordinary plan, if it ever existed, never came into 
operation. In one of his sorties, Bourget had been 
temporarily secured, and the hopes of the inhabitants 
were correspondingly raised. When this somewhat 
important position was lost, by what was conceived to 
be the carelessness of the military authorities, and 
when, at this precise juncture, news arrived of the fall 
of Metz, and that M. Thiers had come to discuss the 
terms of an armistice, the Red Republican party took 
advantage of the outburst of enraged feeling, and made 
a bold attempt to overthrow the government. 

In this remarkable incident the world had an 
example of a revolution within a revolution. In the 
evening of 31st October, a mob, accompanied by some 
battalions of National Guards of Red tendencies, broke 
into the H6tel-de-Ville, surrounded the Government of 



318 FRANCE. 

National Defence, and made all the members prisoners 
except one, M. Picard, who escaped in the confusion. 
A new republican government was declared, embracing 
the names of Blanqui, Flourens, Pyat, Delescluse, and 
some others never before heard of. It was proposed 
to shoot Trochu, but he, with Jules Ferry, were at 
length released. By the activity of the ministers who 
had escaped, troops were collected; and, surrounding 
the Hotel-de-Ville, they had little difficulty in securing 
the ringleaders, for the interior of the civic palace 
presented a scene of wild disorder. The newly-set-up 
government, which had about as much right on its 
side as that it dispossessed, was in office about six 
hours, after which there was a restoration of the Govern- 
ment of National Defence; 

Trochu has been severely criticised for his apparent 
inefficiency, considering the number of troops at his 
disposal; but he laboured under the difficulty that 
the army of Paris was too large and too hiiscellaneous in 
character to be properly handled. There were 400,000 
National Guards, but numbers of them often skulked 
from field-duty, and they were of little service except to 
man the enceinte, or outer wall. The Gardes Mobiles, 
an armed militia, numbering 180,000, of which less than 
a half were from the departments, were a better class of 
soldiers, and more amenable to discipline, but they 
wanted experience. Of regular troops there were only 
60,000. With no deficiency in point of numerical 
strength, the garrison was not qualified to burst through 
the iron ring with which the city was girded. 

To a people so sensitive of national importance as 
the French, the occupation of Versailles by the detested 
Prussians could scarcely fail to give a peculiar pang of 



1871.] SIEGE OF PARIS CONCLUDED. 319 

mortification. The palace and museum, dedicated to 
6 all the glories of France ■ — the edifice, once the scene 
of the courtly ceremonies of Louis Quatorze — the grand 
old gardens of Lenotre — all now in the hands of the 
Germans, whom, in 1806, the first Napoleon had treated 
like dirt beneath his feet! If anything could deepen 
the sense of being humbled in the eyes of Europe, it 
must have been the circumstance of William, king of 
Prussia, at the request of the North and South German 
States, and in compliment to his sagacity and prowess, 
assuming the title and dignity of Emperor of Germany 
in the palace of Versailles on the 18th January, sur- 
rounded by a host of princes and German commanders, 
in whose firm grasp France was now almost in the 
death-agony. 

Towards the end of January, the cause of ' national 
defence ' was given up. The vaunted ' pact with death ' 
was silently relinquished. Life with humiliation was 
preferable. It was discovered that in Paris there were 
rations of bread only for a few days. By closer 
advances, the bombardment had commenced, and shells 
were falling in the part of the capital on' the left bank 
of the Seine. In this dire extremity, Jules Favre, con- 
siderably lowered in tone, applied for another interview 
with Bismark, which was agreed to on the 26th. The 
meeting took place at Versailles, and the bombardment 
ceased on the 28th. An armistice for twenty-one days 
was granted, to afford time for convoking a national 
assembly qualified to determine the question of peace 
or war. It was stipulated that all the forts round Paris 
were to be surrendered with their war material; the 
enceinte was to be disarmed of its guns, and the troops 
were to be made prisoners of war, only the National 



320 FRANCE. 

Guards and other municipal forces being allowed to 
retain their arms for the internal protection of Paris. 
Not to wound Parisian susceptibilities, the German army 
was to refrain from marching through the capital. Paris 
was to pay a war contribution of ^8,000,000. The 
armistice was, properly speaking, a capitulation, and the 
news that such had taken place caused grave concern 
at Bordeaux, whither the delegation of government had 
for safety transferred itself from Tours. 

In Great Britain and other countries, the intelligence 
of a cessation of the murderous strife came with a sense 
of relief. From the 21st September to the 29th January, 
the siege of Paris had lasted four months and seven 
days. Several more days elapsed before supplies of 
provisions could be introduced, for large tracts of 
country in the neighbourhood had been reduced to the 
condition of a desert. The Germans sent some cattle 
to re-victual Paris. England despatched large contribu- 
tions of various kinds of provisions, which were thank- 
fully received by the famishing population. Quantities 
of seed-corn were also freely contributed, to enable the 
ruined peasantry to sow the lands which had been laid 
waste; while numerous societies of benevolent individuals 
sent medical and surgical appliances to assuage the 
personal sufferings inflicted during the bitter military 
contest. 

The provisional government appointed, as its name 
implies, for national defence, did not by any means 
confine itself to that definite object. It assumed powers 
of general legislation, and acted in every way as if 
entitled to exercise autocratic rule. This was especially 
conspicuous in the delegated portion of the government 
at Bordeaux, represented by Cremieux and Gambetta, 



1871.] NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 321 

who, guided by their own will, issued decrees in as 
high-handed a style as ever signalised the despotism of 
Louis XIV. A decree, issued 27th December (1870), 
6 dissolved the General Councils in the departments, 
the Councils of the Arrondissements, and the Depart- 
mental Commission in France. The General Councils 
were to be replaced by Departmental Commissions, 
the number of their members corresponding to the 
number of cantons in each department. • This was 
nothing short of a violent dismissal of all constituted 
municipal authorities, with the substitution of parties 
favourable to the new order of things, or who, for the 
sake of place, affected to be so. The delegation went 
a step farther. In view of the election of members to 
a National Assembly, which was to meet at Bordeaux for 
the purpose of settling terms of peace with Prussia, 
Gambetta and his colleague issued a decree on the 
31st January, proscribing certain categories of citizens 
— Legitimists, Orleanists, and Bonapartists — who were 
not to be entitled to be representatives. Scandalised by 
so flagrant an outrage on the law of election, the govern- 
ment at Paris issued a counter decree (Februaiy 5), 
declaring that i the restrictions imposed by the decree 
of the delegation were null and void, as being incom- 
patible with the principle of universal suffrage.' 

Considering that a large part of the country was 
occupied by foreign troops, the elections were accom- 
plished with considerable ease. Against the convoking 
of the Assembly, Napoleon, in his exile at Wilhelmshohe, 
issued, on the 8th February, a manifesto, forming a 
species of protest against the whole proceedings; but 
it received no attention. The National Assembly met 
on the 1 2th, in the theatre at Bordeaux, and on the 

u 



322 FRANCE. 

following day, Jules Favre, in his own name and that 
of his colleagues, resigned their powers to the represen- 
tatives of the people — he and the others only retaining 
office till their successors were appointed. On the 17th, 
M. Thiers was elected chief of the executive, with power 
to name his ministers. On the 19th, his selection was 
announced — embracing Dufaure, minister of justice; 
Jules Favre, minister of foreign affairs ; and Picard, as 
minister of the interior. The policy which Thiers recom- 
mended was, that all, be they monarchist or republican, 
should lay aside differences, and work for the good 
of the country, until the form of government could be 
determined by the national will. On the motion of Jules 
Favre, a committee of fifteen deputies was appointed 
to assist the ministers to treat with Prussia for terms 
of peace. 

The negotiations at Versailles, which occupied six 
days, terminated on the 26th February, when prelimi- 
naries of peace were signed. The terms fixed by M. 
Bismark were of the most exacting nature — a war 
indemnity of five milliards of francs, or ^200,000,000 
sterling, payable within three years; Alsace, and the 
German part of Lorraine, with Metz, to be ceded, but 
Belfort to remain with France ; as a guarantee until the 
indemnity was paid, Champagne to be occupied by the 
Germans at the cost of France ; on payment of the first 
instalment of ^20,000,000, the Germans to be removed 
from the neighbourhood of Paris. M. Thiers made strenu- 
ous efforts to secure less severe terms, but without avail. 
Bismark was inexorable. The alternative was either 
acceptance, or recommencement of the war next morn- 
ing. There was no choice, but to sign, and the armistice 
was extended to a few days longer, for the terms to be 



1871.] TERMS OF PEACE. 323 

ratified by the Assembly. Accepted by the committee, 
the preliminaries were on the 1st March ratified by 546 
against 107 votes. At the sitting on the occasion, the 
Assembly confirmed by acclamation the deposition of 
Napoleon, though this did not come within the scope of 
its appointment. Thus were matters arranged for ter- 
minating a war the most humiliating in which France 
had ever been engaged. When subdued in 18 14, it was 
by the united forces of nearly the whole of Europe. 
Now, in a war of but seven months, it fell before the 
military power brought into the field by a single nation 
— that which was roused into military strength and 
unity by cruel indignities, for which a heavy expiation 
was now to be sorrowfully made. 

On the 1 st March, part of the Prussian army entered 
Paris; but while the troops remained, they, by agree- 
ment, limited the occupation to the Champs-Elysees and 
places adjoining on the right bank of the Seine. With 
peace, the principal forts were vacated by the Germans, 
and the ambassadors of foreign powers resumed their 
residence in Paris, which, long shut up, now began 
to receive the visits of strangers, and to recover its 
former appearance. Vacating Versailles, the Emperor 
of Germany and suite returned to Berlin, where, on the 
17th March, he was received with lively demonstrations . 
of loyalty and affection. The Germans, who had some 
reason to boast of what their arms had accomplished, 
summed up as follows the results of the war. The 
united German forces had fought 156 battles, 17 of 
which were of the first order. They had captured 26 
fortresses, 6700 cannon, and 120 eagles and colours; and 
had made 11,650 officers and 363,000 men prisoners. 
There had, however, been a great loss of life; there 



324 FRANCE. 

was mourning in innumerable families; and, by the 
abstraction of men for the army, much of the business 
of the country had been at a stand. The Germans were 
accused of committing a variety of outrages, such as 
robbing peasantry, destroying hamlets, and making 
-heavy requisitions in their line of march. It has not 
been shewn, however, that in this' respect they exceeded 
the ordinary practices of the French, or what Napoleon I. 
inflicted on Prussia and Austria. 

Besides suffering the captivity of its army and loss of 
territory, France incurred pecuniary obligations by the 
war, which it was ill able to undertake. The funded 
debt, at the conclusion of the reign of Louis-Philippe, 
amounted to ^182,000,000. The short second republic 
added ^63, 000,000, raising the debt to ^245, 000,000. 
The reign of Napoleon III. added ^£305, 000,000, by 
which the debt at the fall of the Empire amounted to 
^55 0,000,000. Then came the expenditure of the 
Government of National Defence and the heavy war 
indemnities, which, according to the best authorities, 
will raise the French national debt to ^1,050,000,000, 
requiring an immense annual charge for interest, which, 
with current expenditure, cannot but press severely on 
the national resources. At the conclusion of the war, the 
host of prisoners was sent back to France. Napoleon, 
also being allowed to depart, arrived in England 20th 
March, and took up his residence with the Empress anct 
Prince Imperial at Chiselhurst in Kent. 

In the magnitude and suddenness of the war, the prodi- 
gious successes on the one side and defeats on the other, 
and in the changes likely to ensue in European politics 
by the exaltation of Prussia and corresponding depression 
of France, the people of England, as near neighbours 



1871.] DEFINITIVE TREATY OF PEACE. 325 

and onlookers, had -an absorbing interest. One of the 
remarkable circumstances connected with the contest, 
was the enterprise of the English press, in employing 
correspondents to accompany the respective armies, 
from whom intelligence of all the important events was 
daily communicated by telegraph in the space of a few 
hours. For this ' war literature,' as it has been called, 
produced under great difficulties and at enormous cost, 
the thanks of all are unquestionably due. 

Towards the conclusion of the war, opinions regard- 
ing the respective belligerents underwent a change. 
The French were not held excusable, but it was thought 
they were harshly treated — reckoned with in a sordid 
and too vengeful spirit. The exercise of a little more 
magnanimity might perhaps have been a better line of 
policy. , It is true that Prussia was warranted in demand- 
ing some species of territorial guarantee against future 
attempts at invasion; and it is likewise true, as has 
been shewn in these pages, that the territory exacted 
had originally pertained to the German empire. France 
only lost what it had in no very creditable manner 
acquired in the reigns of Henry II., Louis XIV., and 
Louis XV. But time had obliterated recollections of 
these bereavements. Alsace and Lorraine had become 
essentially French, and it might have occurred on 
reflection, that — supposing France be not doomed to 
some new catastrophe — the seizure of these districts 
may, by laying the foundation of lasting national enmity, 
lead to the result which it was designed to avert. 

While . the plenipotentiaries of the two nations were 
proceeding to settle the definitive Treaty of Peace at 
Brussels, France, as if destined to endless distractions, 
suffered the infliction of civil war. It was not without 



326 FRANCE. 

a well-founded apprehension of being rudely disturbed 
by an invading Parisian rabble, that the Assembly, 
previously to quitting Bordeaux, resolved to sit at 
Versailles instead of the capital. They accordingly did 
so; the ministers, however, preferring to betake them- 
selves to their official bureaux in Paris. Thus affairs 
continued until Saturday, 18th March, when, a fresh 
revolution breaking out, Thiers and his ministry fled 
to Versailles. 

With a powerful German force still within hail, with 
the stipulated indemnity still unpaid, with the country 
still prostrated by that terrible war, and when there was 
the greatest need for general concord, Paris revolts, 
assumes an attitude of fierce defiance and independence ; 
and acts are committed reminding one of the saturnalia 
of 2d September 1792 ! The causes* of these disorders 
throw a curious light on the French character. The 
extension and beautifying of Paris by Louis-Philippe 
and Napoleon III., had attracted from the provinces large 
numbers of artisans to the capital. Napoleon, through 
the active aid of Baron Hausmann, prefect of the Seine, 
did so much in the way of city improvements, that he 
boasted of having put an end to revolutions, by making 
street-fighting no longer practicable. In the Faubourg 
St Antoine, and other densely peopled quarters, he 
made new lines of broad thoroughfares, which, being 
laid with asphalt, provided no store of paving-stones 
wherewith barricades could be constructed. His ex- 
pectations were illusive. Dispossessed of their old 
haunts, the proletaries flocked to Montmartre and 
Belleville, within the north-east and easily defensible 
faubourgs. Here sprung up the citadel of Red 
Republicans — the men who, thrown out of employment 



1871.] CIVIL WAR. 327 

by the war, crowded into the ranks of the National 
Guards, and were kept alive by a pay of thirty sous, or 
fifteenpence a head per day during the siege. 

The prospect of having to lay down their arms, and 
so lose the daily pay for soldiering, was in itself 
calculated to arouse revolutionary sentiments ; but there 
were other causes for discord. During the universal 
havoc, the government had kindly, but, it is to be 
feared, with little knowledge of social economics, 
decreed the suspension of various pecuniary obligations, 
such as paying rents, debts, bills, and interest on 
mortgages. Now that peace had dawned, and things 
were about to settle down in the old routine, there was 
an alarming anticipation among the indebted classes 
of being compelled to satisfy their landlords and 
creditors. Here lay a fund of explosive discontent 
Ever since the overthrow of the Empire, those in 
authority had talked of the country being under the 
rule of a republic. Thiers professed a wish to uphold 
the republic, while, in reality, there was no republic to 
uphold. The nation had not yet voted for a republic \ 
and, judging from the temper and proclivities of the 
rural population, probably would not do so. There 
were* still other causes of dissatisfaction. The selection 
of Versailles as a seat of legislature appeared like a 
design to decapitalise Paris. In short, the Parisian 
republicans apprehended that now, as on previous 
changes of government, their views were likely to be 
subordinated to some conservative or dynastic influ- 
ence. Among the fifteenpence men of Belleville there 
was a resolution to stand this no longer. Paris should 
be free, and have a government of its own. 

When it was too late, Jules Favre discovered 



328 FRANCE. N 

that a fatal mistake had been made by the National 
Guards being allowed to retain their arms for the 
sake of preserving public order in Paris. This was 
simply arming the populace, and enabling them to 
assume the domineering attitude for which they had 
often contended. Plans were arranged for disband- 
ing them. 'Being summoned to deliver up their cannon 
and small-arms, they were at the moment inclined to 
obey; but, by culpable negligence, the execution of the 
order was for a few hours delayed, and the disaffected 
battalions of Belleville prepared for resistance. Joined 
by others, and also by regiments of the line, they had 
the capital almost immediately at their mercy. Several 
officers of the line shamefully went over to the side of the 
insurgents; some did their duty at the risk of their lives. 
Two generals, Lecompte and Clement Thomas, being 
deserted by their troops, were taken prisoners, and 
shot. M. Thiers issued proclamations calling on the 
peacefully disposed inhabitants to assist in restoring 
order. His efforts were vain. Without organisation 
or the habit of aiding the authorities, the middle and 
higher classes looked on with dismay or indifference. 
The executive being powerless, took shelter at Versailles. 
Paris was in the hands of the Red Republicans. The 
tricolour was pulled down, and the red flag, the standard 
of anarchy, hoisted on the Tuileries. 

A Central Committee, presided over at first by a M. 
Assi, constituted the ruling authority, and proceeded to 
establish a commune embracing the whole capital — 
meaning by that, a sovereign power which should make 
its own laws, levy its own taxes, and regulate in every 
respect its own affairs. Other cities, if they pleased, 
might each have its commune, and all the communes of 



1871.] CIVIL WAR. 329 

France would form a federal union of republics, which 
would be represented in a National Assembly, and there, 
by their number and importance, withstand the deaden- 
ing influence of representatives from the rural districts. 
Such, briefly stated, was the proposed plan of national 
government, which bore a resemblance to that of the 
Italian republics in the middle ages. In the bewilder- 
ment of active but untutored minds, groping for relief 
against inveterate centralisation, the Reds of Paris fell 
upon the idea of setting up an independent government. 
There was something pitiable in the notion ; for, by the 
smallest exercise of common-sense, it would have been 
seen that, in the existing half-subdued state of the 
country, with the Prussians at hand waiting for payment, 
the system of independent communes could not be 
carried out, and that, supposing this difficulty had been 
removed, an attempted federation of communes could 
only end in national disintegration. 

In the discussions on the subject, the fact of the 
cities in Great Britain being governed by councils freely 
elected by the inhabitants, was quoted in justification. 
But it escaped notice, or perhaps was not understood, 
that these municipalities are created by the legislature 
for special local purposes, and that their members, 
having sworn allegiance to the sovereign, are in all 
their acts strictly limited by statute. Erring in their 
notions, and involved in the ruffianly proceedings of 
anarchists, the Commune, elected under the inspiration 
of the Central Committee, took the reins of govern- 
ment, and became a general terror. Succumbing to the 
audacity of a comparatively small number of men, who, 
from their habits, had no practical knowledge of govern- 
ment, Paris was exposed to distractions exceeding what 



330 FRANCE. 

had been suffered during the siege. Banks, insurance 
offices, and other public establishments, were laid under 
contribution ; churches and private dwellings were 
pillaged; various newspapers were suppressed; indivi- 
duals incurring suspicion were unwarrantably seized and 
imprisoned; and, at a peaceful demonstration, several 
persons were killed by a fusilade from the insurgents. 
To shew their republicanism, adherents of the Commune 
had the weakness to imitate the early revolutionists, by 
abandoning the ordinary calendar. The month of March 
they called Germinal, of the year 79, such being the 
reckoning from 1792. A sorry attempt was also made 
to restore the practice of wearing 'caps of liberty.' 

As a measure of conciliation at the outset, the 
Commune won over the greater part of the tenants in 
Paris by decreeing that all rents due since October pre- 
ceding were remitted. Since the first Revolution, the 
state of Paris had never been more critical. Many fami- 
lies took to flight ; a large number of shops were shut ; 
the post-office authorities went away; and there were no 
longer mails to or from England. Barricades were con- 
structed preparatory to defence against any troops which 
the government at Versailles might send to attack the 
capital. From standing on the defensive, the Federals, 
as the Commune called themselves, proceeded to carry 
the war beyond the barriers, and there were almost daily 
encounters with the Constitutional troops, commanded 
by M'Mahon, Ducrot, and others. On several occasions 
there was great slaughter, with much destruction of 
property. In one of the encounters, Flourens, who 
acted as a Federal commander, was killed. What 
seemed incomprehensible was the temporising policy 
of Thiers. He agreed that if the insurgents would 



1871.] CIVIL WAR. 331 

lay down their arms, Paris should enjoy the right 
of electing its own communal council; but, with 
strange inconsistency, he caused a law to be enacted 
(8th April) by the Assembly, conferring on the govern- 
ment the power to appoint the mayors of all the 
cities and towns in France having a population over 
20,000 — a decree as arbitrary as if the British executive 
were to take power to appoint the chief magistrates of 
all the large towns of the United Kingdom. 

The irresolution and feebleness of the provisional 
government may perhaps be excusable in the conscious- 
ness of its own defective title. The Assembly had 
been professedly elected only to determine the matter 
of peace or war, and since that was settled, it was 
officially defunct. Its sittings were now a usurpa- 
tion, without any more legal validity than the sittings 
and acts of the Parisian Commune. The country 
had degenerated into the extraordinary condition of 
having two governments, each of them self-appointed, 
and each ' doing as it liked. At the end of April and 
beginning of May, the condition of affairs was lamentable. 
After running through a course of theories and follies, 
the government and statesmanship of France had sunk 
to the dregs. Political ability, common sagacity, dis- 
appeared. Like a huge derelict vessel, the wreck of a 
noble country was apparently drifting hither and thither 
to destruction. 

Our narrative is concluded. The history of France 
and its Revolutions has been told ; perhaps with too 
much brevity, but in a manner, we trust, to convey a 
tolerably clear idea of how a nation, by a series of errors, 
may bring itself to the brink of ruin. In seeking for the 



332 FRANCE. 

fundamental cause of the accumulated calamities of 
France, some will doubtless fix on the normal qualities 
of the French mind — love of novelty, vanity, fickleness, 
impulsiveness, a deficiency in the reflective and moral 
faculties. A country which gave birth to Montesquieu 
and Fenelon can scarcely be said to be unable to pro- 
duce either profound thought or piety. French literature 
glitters with a host of brilliant writers. Arts and sciences 
also claim a long list of renowned Frenchmen. The fact, 
nevertheless, is evident, that, with so much to be proud 
of, the French people lack the capacity to understand, 
and, most of all, practical intelligence to conduct, what 
we know by a constitutional government. They commit 
the grievous error of accepting names for things, as if not 
aware that the form of government must depend on the 
mental qualities of a people, as well as on the materials 
fit for carrying on the public business. No experience 
has taught the French this important principle. Even 
those amongst them reputed as possessing the highest 
intellects in the country, often think and act in political 
matters scarcely like rational beings. They demonstrate 
an unconsciousness of the stern yet beneficent obligations 
imposed by a constitution such as that under which the 
people of the United Kingdom have the happiness to 
live. So strange are the freaks performed, that it would 
almost seem as if there were in every Frenchman's 
mind an incapacity to see the importance of keeping, on 
all occasions, strictly within the bounds of law, along 
with a propensity to find an excuse for committing 
irregularities according to fancied notions of justice, or 
the pressure of circumstances. An inability to 'keep 
to order ' in official proceedings appears to be inherent 
in the French character. Arthur Young's description of 



1871.] CONCLUSION. 333 

what he saw in 1789 would apply to the Assembly at 
Bordeaux and Versailles in 187 1. 

If there be something to blame, there is not a little 
to pity in the history of the French. The nation was 
cruelly maltreated under the old noblesse. The cen- 
tralisation extended and confirmed by Richelieu, and 
perpetuated under Louis XIV., arrested all healthy 
national life. The suppression of free religious thought, 
by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, was a 
death-blow to the progress of intelligence. Under a 
better and more genial state of things, the natural levity 
of the French character might have been sobered, and 
the country spared the convulsion of 1789. That con- 
vulsion we have pointed out as being inevitable — a 
result of misusage, but it need not have been attended 
with frantic schemes to uproot every cherished feeling 
and institution. The excesses committed from 1792 
to 1795, developed a savage ferocity lying hid under 
an external politeness and suavity of manner, which 
has never, so far as we know, received the special 
attention of psychologists. Perhaps it may be partly 
due to the long course of outrage and vicious example 
under the old despotisms; but even now, after the 
modifying influence of time, it is still, on occasions of 
public excitement, painfully evident. 

The old monarchical despotisms, with all their imper- 
fections, were favourable to the growth of great men. 
The era of French genius of the highest order extended 
from the reign of Louis XIV. to the Revolution. Then 
began a decline towards a frivolous and undignified 
mediocrity, with but few expressions of bold and ingeni- 
ous intellect. Since the First Empire, French literature 
has no doubt been enriched by the works of many 



334 FRANCE. 

distinguished writers, of whom we may only name 
Guizot, Lamartine, Thiers, Comte, Victor Cousin, and 
De Tocqueville ; but the remarkable thing is, that all the 
efforts of literature fail to stimulate the higher emotions 
to any practical advantage, or to counteract that down- 
ward tendency in society towards a mean uniform level, 
which is obviously a result of the extinction of mon- 
archy, the abolition of aristocracy and of the law of 
primogeniture, and the compulsory equal division of 
heritage among children. To these primary deteriorating 
causes have been added the disturbing effects of con- 
tinual revolutions, the diversion of the public mind 
towards the vain phantom of military glory, and a 
general break-down in religious convictions. With 
nothing of an enduring kind to venerate, respect, or 
to rally round ; with no affections clinging to the past, 
or hopes anchored in the future; with life a series of 
temporary expedients — a round of inanity and fleeting 
indulgence — how, on a scale worth mentioning, can 
there be anything great, good, or wise? Colonel 
Stoffel, in the state-paper to which we have referred, 
speaks with surprising candour of the failings of his 
countrymen, when pointing out the difference between 
the Germans and French. 'The Germans/ he says, 
' are manly, not corrupted by sensual pleasures, possess 
earnest convictions, and do not think it beneath 
them to reverence what is noble and lofty. The 
French, on the other hand, having sneered at every- 
thing, have lost the faculty of respecting anything — 
virtue, family life, patriotism, honour, religion, are held 
by a frivolous generation to be fitting objects of 
ridicule ; the nation a jumble of disorderly elements ; 
a country so full of self-conceit, that everybody pretends 



i8;i.] CONCLUSION, 335 

to be able to fill the highest office in the state.' A 
foreigner could have said nothing more severe. 

To this issue the principles of 1789 have brought 
France. What a solemn warning does it offer against 
relinquishing realities for theories ! Theories have landed 
the bourgeoisie and rural population of France in the 
unhappy position of having nothing to stand between 
them and anarchy but some kind of elective autocrat. 
It is unjust to heap opprobrium on Napoleon III., as 
if he were the cause of the evils which afflict and 
throw discredit on the country. Whatever be his share 
in the mischief, we must search deeper into history. 
There would have been no Napoleon but for the 
execution of Louis XVI. and the many other outra- 
geous proceedings of the revolutionists, by which the 
whole social edifice was destroyed, and the political 
life of the nation reduced to a succession of spas- 
modic efforts, in one of which for a time Napoleon 
played his part, as Louis-Philippe had done before him. 
The whole series of events, from the meeting of the 
States-general until 187 1, are but consecutive parts of a 
single and very melancholy drama, of which the last act 
has been civil war, with the occupation of the country 
by a foreign army. To shroud their own follies and 
blunders, the French are in the habit of throwing the 
blame on who'ever happens to be placed at the helm of 
affairs, and of saying that they have been i betrayed,' 
' sold.' Yes, truly, they have been sold, but it was by 
themselves. The bargain they made was a poor one. 
They sacrificed their king and constitution for the tri- 
colour — sold their country for a rag ! 

Whether, under any form of government that can be 
projected, France will be able to fulfil its onerous 



336 FRANCE. 

pecuniary obligations, is doubtful ; and a failure in this 
respect may precipitate changes still more extraordinary 
and humiliating than any that have yet occurred. In the 
brightest view of affairs, as matters now stand, the country 
cannot save itself from the guidance of despotic and 
centralised officialism, because it has not only divested 
itself of those elements of social stability on which a 
proper constitutional government can be founded, but 
because even its educated classes have not the faculty 
to comprehend the restraints prescribed by a constitu- 
tional system. Trading politicians may affect to desire, 
the populace in their misguided fury may proclaim, a 
republic. With that the degraded condition of France 
is plainly incompatible. Call the government which is 
set up by any name you please, it will be nothing but a 
species of despotism. Nor, sad to say, can any improved 
system of government be looked forward to, so long 
as an unruly Parisian mob is suffered to overturn at 
pleasure the rule generally preferred by the nation. 

All persons of any feeling will sympathise with the 
French in their heavy afflictions. But, looking to the 
past — and especially to the manner in which govern- 
ment after government has been heedlessly and indeed 
disgracefully laid in ruin— candour obliges us reluctantly 
to remind them (in proverbial phrase) that they may 
1 Read their Sin in their Punishment/ 



THE END. 



Edinburgh : 
Printed by W. and R. Chambers. 






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